Trip to the Sugar Bowl

So, I had quite an eventful Christmas break to say the least. First I should explain how I met the wonderful, Brandon Lyon. No matter what plans you make, you should never underestimate fate. On a cold, early December morning, my sister and Dusty were out on just another duck hunt. Little did they know what would come of their hunt that morning. When arriving for the hunt that morning, Brandon saw Leah get out of the car, and thought to himself, "Man, not a girl hunting with us!". Little did he know that she is a hardcore duckhunter that can keep up with any of the boys! SO, not far into the morning, Leah says, "Hey, you're tall, are you dating anyone?" I'm not sure where the conversation went from there but I'm pretty sure he thought my sister was crazy! Long story short, he added me as a friend on facebook and we started talking. Not much later, he invited me to dinner and the rest is history! We have a lot in common and really enjoy spending time together, so we'll see where this takes us! So far, it took us to the SUGAR BOWL!!! =) Brandon had extra tickets, so he invited me to come along with him, his mom, and his aunt and uncle to make the trip down to New Orleans, LA. We left on Tuesday morning, the day of the sugar bowl and made the drive down. When we arrived, we grabbed a bite to eat and headed to the superdome!

This is Brandon and I standing in front of the Superdome!

This is the line waiting to get in the Superdome (2 hours before the game mind you!) All of the fans were pumped and calling those hogs every chance they got!

Still waiting to go in the game!

This is during the National Anthem sang by Darius Rucker!

We had GREAT seats and really enjoyed the game, even though it was a tough loss.. We really came back and gave them a run for their money, but in the end we had too many dropped passes, sacks, and errors. Even after the blocked punt, we still could have made it a storybook ending, but the interception was the last straw. The fans were incredible, and every time we were on a roll the entire Superdome was erupting for the HOGS! It was still a very good game, but it would have been SO much better had we won!

The next morning we ate at Cracker Barrel before making the drive home. We all had a really good time, and I'm so glad I accepted the invitation to go!

New Year's Eve

This year's New Years plans were up in the air for a while! Originally I had planned to be a the annual Passion Conference in Atlanta, but plans changed, and thankfully I was able to sell my ticket to another student on ebay! Then, while saying some final goodbyes in Conway before coming home for Christmas break, my friend Lindsy invited me to her house up in Missouri for New Years Eve. I quickly accepted the invitation and looked forward to the trip!

On December 30th, I headed to Conway to meet up with amber to begin our road trip! Before leaving Conway, we had lunch and enjoyed visiting with Nicki and her husband Brandon at chick-fil-a. Then we made our way to Poplar Bluff, Missouri! Molly also met us at Lindsy's house. Once we arrived, Lindsy kept us entertained the entire trip! First, we made a trip to Walmart to buy food for the New Year's Eve celebration. Then we went to one of Lindsy's friends houses for a night of pool, skee-ball, and board games. Then next morning we headed into Cape Gerardiau, MO for Amber's hair appointment with Cody's sister and then of course some shopping! After the hair appointment we ate lunch at a cute downtown restaurant, Tractors. The best store we went in was called 'Trees n Trends' and we got lots of cute things for Lindsy's new house as well as some good Christmas bargains. Our shopping trip was ended early after this store due to a downpour!! It rained so hard on us most of the way back to Poplar Bluff. When we got back, it was time to start making the food and getting ready to bring in the new year!

This is a group pic of us, minus Laura Ward, Lindsy's brother, and her parents

This is part of the feast we whipped up!

Before and after bringing in the New Year, we enjoyed a very looooong game of phase 10! I started off in last place, but ended up winning! Well, we stopped after the 8th phase since we had been playing for nearly 3 hours!

Amber and I during the card game....we are silly!

And finally bringing in the new year!!! Happy 2011! It looks to be a good year: graduation, getting a job, and finding a place to live! Scary, but exciting! =)

We started off the new year VERY lazy! We spent the majority of the day watching the first season of "Friday Night Lights". We finally got ready in time to go by Lindsy and Cody's new house on the way to eat at 'Strawberry's'. Lindsy and Cody bought an older house with lots of land and have totally redone the inside of the house. It is SO gorgeous and I am very happy for them! It is truly the country dream home, with beautiful land and pond included! After eating dinner, we headed back in to Poplar Bluff to hang out at 'The Wine Rack' and then at 'Cosby's'. We had lots of fun playing darts, shuffleboard, and pool! After a late night, we got plenty of rest and then headed home after a delicious meal that Lindsy's sweet mom prepared. I had so much fun bringing in the New Year with these fabulous friends!

Once we got back into Conway, we met up with some PT girls at the new 3 Flamingo's Yogurt Company. Nicki, Jill, Erica, Amber, and I enjoyed some much needed girl talk for several hours before finally having to say goodbye. I'm really going to miss these girls over the next few months!! We've really gotten to be like family.

*Christmas Day*

After all the decorating, shopping, and present-wrapping, Christmas morning finally arrived! We had a very busy day planned: Opening presents at our house, Christmas lunch with the Jacks' family at Aunt Mary's, and finally Christmas night at Papaw Leonard's! Whew!

To start the day, Mamaw, Papaw, and Bo arrived to witness the opening of the presents, as they do each and every year. After presents, we all enjoy eating Bo's breakfast casserole and playing with our new "toys". This year, I also had gifts for each of them to open.

Our Christmas tree with WAY to many presents under it!

Leah and I were up and ready to open gifts! I decided to sport my onesie that I purchased for my class Christmas party. :)

My couch full of presents! I got WAY to much for Christmas!!! My mom goes all out and I am beyond blessed to have such a wonderful family. My favorite gift was the picture frame quote she made Leah and I that said: "Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think" -Christopher Robin to Pooh

Leah and all her gifts! She also got a lot of presents, but hers were heavily hunting related...go figure! ;) She got the pink bow target, a duck gun, and a pink duck call!

Mom and Dad holding the painting I made for them. It says: The Jacks Family, established 1982, with the verse: "As for me and my house we will serve the Lord". It also has our four names on the branches of the tree. I am not a pro by any means, but I like making things for people that are all my own. The GOOD news is, next year I will have a JOB and can actually buy presents for people with my own money!!

I am also very blessed to have such a loving and wonderful grandmother, Sylvia Morgan (aka Bo) I wanted to make something for her that matched her living room, and I also knew she likes birds, so this is what I came up with. I also like the quote I found: "You don't choose your family, they are God's gift to you, as you are to them".

And last but not least, this is Papaw and Mamaw holding the painting I made for their living room. It says: "The Jacks Family, established 1953" They really liked it and I hope they enjoy it in their home.

Overall, we enjoyed a wonderful Christmas morning, and we all received WAY too many gifts!

After breakfast, we all hurried to get ready to head to Aunt Mary and Uncle Bobby Parker's for Christmas lunch. I was also very glad that Bo joined us this year! We had WAY too much food and enjoyed grazing the entire time we were there! After lunch, we enjoyed a fun game of dirty Santa! I got the Bath and Body works lotion I was hoping to get! The only one disappointed was dad, who received size small ladies house shoes, but he was able to trade them off later on for a filet knife from Papaw. It was SO good to see everyone and spend time together on this special day.

After lunch, we went home for a bit and had time to put away some of our presents. Before too long though, it was time to head to Star City for Christmas night at Papaw Leonard and Mrs. Wanda's. They had also cooked a delicious meal of ham, dip, and pies galore! After supper we enjoyed sitting around the living room and talking, as well as opening our presents of course! We all got gift cards to Dillards, which are always the perfect gift! I think this year I'll be smart like Leah and save it for a new bathingsuit or summer clothes!

As you can see, we had a very busy, but VERY blessed 2010 Christmas spent with those that mean the most! I can only hope for this much for years to come!

*Christmas Eve*

Each year, it is our family tradition to go to Mamaw and Papaw's house for Christmas Eve, and this year was no different. We always enjoy going shopping with Mamaw in preparation of this event. This year, Mom, Mamaw, and Leah met me in Little Rock to do our shopping. We started off at the new Target on University Ave, then shopped at JcPenney on Shackelford and then back to the Park Plaza mall to finish up. I always enjoy spending the day with those that mean the world to me!

Mamaw and I

This year we decided to go easy on the meal since we would have a large Christmas meal for lunch the next day. We had sandwiches, cheesedip, cheeseball, spinach/artichoke dip, and pecan pie, coconut pie, and chocolate pudding for dessert! YUM!

Mom and I

After cleaning up the dishes, we all sit around the dining room table as Mamaw and Leah hand out the gifts. We like to take turns opening our gifts so we can all see what each other is getting. Papaw is the only one that has trouble with this, as he is just like a little kid: excited and giddy to tear into all his presents. Next year, we should wrap extra, empty boxes for him because I think unwrapping them is his favorite part!

Papaw and Mamaw opening their presents

After opening presents, it is also a tradition to take our annual Christmas picture in front of the fireplace! So, after several attempts we finally got some good ones!

Our goofy family pic.

And our real family pic! Papaw gets irritated with us when we act silly.. :) But I love this group of people more than words could ever express!

* A DPT Christmas *

Well, here I am way behind on my posts again. So, I just wanted to capture a few of the highlights. With my final semester of class (ever) ending, along with the NPTE review course, December was a VERY busy month! Nevertheless, us PTers never miss the chance for a celebration.

~Class Pajama Party~

For our Christmas party this year, we decided on a pajama-themed party. All decked out in our PJ's, we enjoyed some yummy food and a fun game of Dirty Santa! The most interesting dirty santa gift was a white rat...ugh! But there were many normal gifts and everyone had a good time choosing their gifts! After dirty santa, we enjoyed a re-enactment of "Doug" by Park and Paul, followed by singing Christmas Carols along with Paige's wonderful piano playing! Following are some of the pictures from the fun-filled event.

Some of the girls: Britni (Renshaw) Brown, Erica Cason, Me, Nicole Atchley, Melinda Guffey, and Tara (Sterenberg) Reckert

Lindsy Johnson (Wilson ;) and I

Nicki Sessions, Me, Erica Cason, and Jill Womack

This is our group pic! We have all grown SO close over these last 3 years, and I couldn't have hand-picked better classmates and friends!

~PT Girl's Panty Party~

Keeping up with our PT tradition, we also fit in the annual Panty Party. I love these girls SO much and it is always fun to get together for girl-time. We all enjoyed time spent together with delicious snack-foods and a very entertaining gift exchange! Let's just say some of the panties we edible, while others were....not all there. ;) Everyone had a really great time!

Back row: Whitney Noechel, Molly Frein, Jessica Mathis, Tara Reckert, Lindsy Johnson, Brittany Sexson, Me. Next row: Amber Mohr, Angela Sawyer, Jessica Sanders, Jessica Green, Jessica Leach, Nicole Atchley, Leigh Farmer, Joanna Hanna, Christa Fraley, Paige and Kylie Bullock. Bottow Row: Nicki Sessions, Erica Cason, Kaitlyn Stambaugh, Gail Madill, Kristen Hook, Kyli Smith, Megan Goodwin, Jill Womack

Me with the wonderful hostess, Mrs. Nicki Sessions

Welcome Baby Asher!

This entry is dedicated to my best friend for life, Amanda Lem and her new little miracle, Asher Kale Lem. Through thick and thin, we've been there for each other over the years. From peewee cheerleading and city projects in GT, to high school softball practice and cheerleading, we've been together through it all. This girl means the world to me, and I wouldn't be who I am today if it weren't for her. I am so blessed to have her as my best friend.

This is one of Amanda's pregnancy pics taken by her Aunt Lynn!

SO cute and creative! She was such a precious pregnant woman.

Amanda started having contractures on a thursday/friday and went into the doctor on friday, December 10. She found out that she was already 5cm dilated, and plans were made to induce on Monday. Thankfully, I was able to take my Monday's final early at 8 am, then drive to Pine Bluff to wait for Baby Asher to arrive. I made it just in time, and baby Asher was born at 11:45 on December 13, 2010. He weighed 6# 10.7 ounces and was 19" long.

Welcome to the world Asher Kale Lem!

First family picture!

Me holding baby Asher next to his glowing mommy!

I was so thankful to be a part of this special day! Asher is just perfect, and this little family is amazing. Amanda and Kyle are going to be the best parents ever, and I plan to be the best Auntie Laura ever!

Clay Walker Concert

As sort of a last minute decision, Amber and I decided to attend the Clay Walker concert along with Leah some of her friends. Amber is NOT a fan of country music, but I am so glad she decided to come along. Clay Walker is sort of an older name in country music, but I was SHOCKED at how many of his songs I know! I sang along with nearly every song!

It was SUCH a fun concert!

Did I mention we were standing only ~10 feet from the stage! Talk about front row!

My sister and I waiting on the concert to start. The only thing about having such great seats is that we had to stand the entire time! The were two opening acts that were also very good!

Amber and I in between acts. I'm so glad she decided to come. She knew most of the songs, even though she claims to hate country! ;-)