Easter Weekend 2011

It is always good to go home (which I've been doing a LOT here lately) but it's always a blessing to spend a weekend with the whole family, celebrating the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ!

On Saturday Mom and I spent the day together. We worked on Leah's shower invitations, went for a HOT 3-mile walk, and made a trip to Star City for a couple things: Fuqua's and Flowers! At Fuqua's, Bo, Brandon, and Mom watched on as I put my order in for a graduation ring from Bo: a pearl and diamond ring! Then Bo and Brandon went for milkshakes as mom and I headed to the flower store to stock up on flowers for mom's pots. On a strict time constraint, we headed back to Woodlawn to drop mom off and then Brandon and I headed to Fordyce to have dinner with Dewayne and Katie Dillard. We enjoyed the dinner, but even more-so the "catching-up" and our tour of Camden.

On Easter morning, we all headed to church and enjoyed a very wonderful Easter service. The church was packed out and I can truly say that the message was proclaimed, through song and word!

Afterward, we headed home and all joyfully ;) took a few Easter pictures.

My favorite family pic

Brandon looking cool in his shades

Dusty and Leah after Church

Left: Brandon being a really good sport

Right: what Brandon really thinks about taking pictures

We enjoyed a feast prepared by Mom, Bo, and Mamaw of: dressing, ham, beans, hashbrown casserole, homemade rolls, pudding, and strawberries and shortcake. Afterwards we sat around the table and chatted for a bit before cleaning up the mess.

Later in the afternoon, I potted all of the flowers that we purchased on Saturday. They all looked very pretty and Mom and I were both very pleased. Also a product of Sunday afternoon, Mom, Leah, and I got out in the deercamp shed and began making room for our "stuff". The way it was, all of our belongings wouldn't have fit, but after reorganizing and trashing/donating several items, there is plenty of space! After this, Brandon and I washed our vehicles quickly before heading back to church! At church, Bro Mike had all the men sing a special (Amazing Grace) and everyone at my church is starting to realize how wonderful of a singer Brandon is...

Whew! What a busy, but very productive and wonderful weekend. It's the small moments that will matter most in the end.

Go! 5k for Autism Research

This past weekend I got to spend the a few days with several of my favorite people. On friday my BFF Nicki drove down to Woodlawn and got to see where I'm from for the first time. After a quick tour, we headed down to Monticello, to get some grub and get in bed. We stayed the night at Brandon's house so we'd be that much closer to the race, hence getting to "sleep in" till 6:30.

Nicki, me, and mom

Bright and early, we made it to the Monticello city park and began the race at 8 o'clock sharp. The race course was beautiful, going through the downtown streets of Monticello by all the nice homes. The weather was also perfect!!! Nicki and I had a good run, despite the massive rolling hills that we had NOT trained for. I started to get cramps right before the last stretch, but Nicki kept me going! We made it to the finish in 31 minutes and 16 seconds!

Which put us in 3rd place in our age category! Also, at the time we thought Tasha had gotten 3rd in her age category also, but later we found out she got 2nd.

Nicki and I were very proud of our finish!

All of our hard training finally paid off!

This is the pic that went on Monticellolive.com, of all the top finishers in each category

Just before leaving the park, posing in front of the finish. What a fun race!

After the race, Nicki, mom, and I headed to the Marketplace flea market, a first experience for all of us. We all really enjoyed looking through all the booths and found several items to purchase. I was very impressed at the amount of crafty and nice things for sale. After shopping, we picked up Brandon and headed to So Goody's for lunch, which was delicious! We decided this will have to become a tradition: running the 5k, shopping at the marketplace, then topping it off with lunch! It's always fun to spend the day having fun with the people you love the most!

Just an update..

Well, I've managed to do it once again....get behind!! What can I say, I live a fairly busy life, and I doubt it slows down ANY time soon. Anyway, just wanted to throw up a few pics and quick summary of February and March. First of all, with school I was busy with my 3rd clinical from January-midMarch, at Easter Seals Inpatient Rehab setting in Little Rock. I really loved my time there and made lots of fun friends in the process. We always had fun, especially on Fun-Friday, which is when we either dressed up or had a themed potluck. In the following pics I am dressed for Neon Friday, but we also enjoyed Jersey Shore day and many others. I am thankful for these memories and also for everything I learned during my time at Easter Seals. I can truly say that I grew in my knowledge and ability to become a pediatric PT.

My Clinical Instructor and I

Me and my new friend, Lindsey Reynolds

I have now completed this clinical and have just started my 3rd week at Clinical IV, at Allied Therapy in Ward. I am loving it so far and getting lots of experience in all realms of pediatric PT: hippotherapy, school therapy, home-health, outpatient, and the daycare setting. This is looking to be another great learning experience.

I am also currently on the job-hunt. Lots of life decisions in the very near future: where to find a job, where to live, when to study for boards, when to start packing..... and the list goes on! If you're reading this, keep my in your prayers for all these decisions that God will lead me in the right direction!

Now, an update on my personal life. I am still dating the wonderful Mr. Brandon Lyon who continues to charm me, day in and day out. I go home nearly every weekend and we spend as much time together as possible. At first I was thinking it was surely to good to be true, but thus far it is most definitely not, and I am loving every minute.

This is a picture on Valentine's Day, when he drove up to Conway

to bring me a dozen roses and take me out to dinner

Our first fishing trip to the pond

Brandon sent me these flowers on a random weekday for no reason at all,

just to let me know that he was thinking of me and that He loves me....

So, I haven't been to good at taking pictures here lately, but I will do my best to step it up. This is shaping up to be an amazing year so far, but it is FLYING by. I'm doing my best just to hang on for the ride!