First Pool Day of Summer

I don't think my video was working earlier, so I reposted this blog. Hope you can view it. Let me know if you can't.

I finally recieved my camera cord in the mail, so here is some video of Jackson swimming at his Nan and Beasch's pool on mother's day weekend. We really had such a great time!!! Thanks again for a fantastic weekend! Love you guys!


Just some fun at the pool. You can't beat it! I love summer!!!!!!!

Soggy Chips With a Side of FUN

More rain pictures. I know it may seem like we do this alot, but if you are a mom, you know that you do whatever you can to entertain whenever you can. If I have to use nature to appease my child then so be it. Not to mention I think it gets some super fun pictures. The weather was amazing and it only rained for about thirty minutes, so we took advantage.


He's just eating chips in the rain...yum....

This is just classic Jackson face....not sure why he makes it but it is so funny!

Mammaw took him to get his fish from the pool. What a trooper!

He would come for shelter under my parents back porch every now and then to grab a chip to take to eat in the rain. Yumm...soggy chips.

I love these baby eyes!! Why can't I have eyelashes like that? The two boys in my life have longer eyelashes than me. What gives? And, am I just imagining dimples? I haven't noticed dimples before. Weird.

These next two pics are when I asked Johnny to make him laugh. Boy did he ever! This kid lost it! Johnny you might have a stand up career, or at least you can come over and Jackson will laugh at you.


And I leave you with the queso kid. He LOVES spicy food and he really loves salsa and cheese. He started out dipping chips but when he ran out of soggy chips he just went for it! Nothing like a healthy bowl of cheese dip for a snack.


I tell you what, I would feed him just about anything for a smile like this!!!!! Ahhhh...I love him so much!!!

We had a great memorial day weekend! Thanks mom and dad for everything. We had a blast!!!!

First Pool Day of Summer

I finally recieved my camera cord in the mail, so here is some video of Jackson swimming at his Nan and Beasch's pool on mother's day weekend. We really had such a great time!!! Thanks again for a fantastic weekend! Love you guys!



Just some fun at the pool. You can't beat it! I love summer!!!!!!!

The Biggest Loser Finale.....And The Winner Is........

....drum roll please.










No seriously, make the Clark Griswold drum roll before I announce the first annual family Biggest Loser winners.








I'm doing it...come on.......









Ok....the winners ARE.............









Well, before I tell you who won I think I should first show you Joey and my before and after pictures and maybe that will give you a clue.





Joey Before







Joey AFTER!!!!




Me Before







Me After



How AMAZING do we look! It was alot of hard work and sacrifice, but well worth it.
Side note: I really need work on my super imposed photoshop head



Ok..ok...enough with the funny business let me just show you the official BIGGEST LOSERS






So my parents swept the competition. They won by a landslide! The team that Joey and I wrote off day one ended up knockin' it out! The numbers tell the story....My mom lost 16.5 lbs and my dad lost 32lbs! The rest of us don't even deserve mention. So, mom and dad, hats off to a tremendous competition. You both look amazing! Go out and celebrate....and about the whole paying for your Hawaii trip, we may need to renegotiate some things. You know, the economy and all. Moneys pretty tight, but great job none the less.
Love you guys!!!!

and here are some more photos just for fun!



I love this pic. We're all at the gun show and dad, you're in some martial arts movie!



Well, our competitive juices are still flowin' so stay tuned for our next big adventure. TBBS (To Be Blogged Soon)
Also, I have not forgot mothers day weekend, I am waiting on a cord for my video camera to get video uploaded to the computer. I will be posting that soon too....I mean, TBBS. Thats all for now folks!

All The Scary Horses

Jackson rode his first carousel yesterday! He was holding mammaw's neck for dear life the first time she put him up on the horse, but on the second ride you can see he started getting brave. He started smiling and waving at me as he went around. We also got him one of the car strollers that he got to "drive" all around the mall. He had a blast! He even came out with a Mickey Mouse phone from the Disney store. Not a bad day. Not a bad day at all.


He just stared at the horses, not sure what to think.

Grant's Pictures

It was a beautiful day and I was honored to take pictures of this beautiful boy! We went to the park and snapped pictures of this precious three year old. This is Grant, the little boy I have mentioned before in my blog. I thought this would be a perfect time to update you on his health if you haven't already gone to his blog. He is out of the hospital and finally at his home! The doctors checked his bone marrow and blood before he could go home and they said that he had to have less than 5% leukemia in his bones to get to go home. When they did the test they said there was none!!!! They checked the bones and blood and they said he officially is cancer free. Praise God for miracles!!! He is still doing chemo treatments once a week and fights fatigue some, but is on his way to full recovery. He is a champ, and so is their entire sweet family!







This picture I just grabbed while Amy was walking him to this fun bridge. I just love this pic because it just seems to say,
we have this road ahead of us but we're walkin' it together. The love they have for each other is so evident, and they really are just super precious.

Amy, I hope you like the pictures!!!

Yea! Jungle Sunrise is officially going to be a published book. For those of you that don't already know, my talented brother-in-law, Johnny is officially a published author. He wrote Jungle Sunrise, got an agent, then got a publisher, and now has his official contract in hand. How exiting! I have read the book and it is AMAZING! I'm not just saying that because he's family, I really mean it. I wouldn't blog about it if it wasn't. I probably would just tell him something like, "oh sorry I forgot to mention it on my blog". No, seriously, check out his site that he has created to tell more about his book.
www.junglesunrise.com

It should be out before Christmas, so you all probably can guess what I'm getting you this year!!!! Johnny we are so proud of you! Nicholas Sparks watch out!

The Truth is Never Sexy

So, it has been almost a year since my last post about what I would tell my son if I only had one thing to teach him in this life. I decided I would do it again.

Dear Jackson,
Let me ask you a question. If you knew something that would help the ones you loved, wife, kids, family in ways that they couldn't imagine, if you had some wisdom that could save them from heart ache and pain and from themselves, would you tell them? I hope your answer would be ABSOLUTELY! What about if you found a whole bunch of money and your family was in need, would you share it? Again, I would think your answer would be ABSOLUTELY! So what is it that I have? I have found something that I can't do myself. I have found someone that has conquered death. Now, none of us are coming out of this thing alive and I certainly find peace in knowing that after my, however many years here on earth, there is more! I have found a peace that trumps my circumstances. That is if the economy takes my money or my child gets cancer, that still there is a peace beneath the tears, beneath the pain of the moment that can flood me with reassurance that "this too shall pass". Hope. There is always hope. This is why I share about my relationship with Jesus. It isn't to "convert" anyone, it isn't to mark off another "won one for our side" box and it certainly isn't to climb some imaginary ladder to the pearly gates. The reason I have to share it is because I have something that I want everyone else I care about to have. I know something that I want everyone to know, you included. Going back to my first question, yes I share what I know to help my family, or give them the money to help provide, but it is THEIR decision whether they want what it is that I have. And it is their decision to take the money I am wanting to give them. It isn't a "popular" thing because it doesn't win awards and it doesn't flow from celebrities lips, at least not kindly. Its not praised in our magazines nor regarded as something cool. But then again, "the truth is never sexy" (Derek Webb song). What I have realized so far in life is that no matter how old we are, or where we live, people tend to resemble a scene from a children's playground. You have those around you that try so hard to keep you out of their circle. They try to make you feel less then they are, and unfortunately alot of these people sit next to us in church. My friend told me this great story that I want to pass on to you. Her little three year old son wanted to slide down a slide at the playground with some older boys and they told him, "NO! You can't play with us, you are a poopy face!!!" My friend said that she saw her son think for a minute and then get down off the slide and come over to her and ask, "Mommy, am I a poopy face?" She said he asked it really unsure about the answer and wanted to know. She obviously said, "No, you are not a poopy face." And he ran back over with all the confidence in the world and slid down the slide happily. He went for conformation to the one he trusted. How great of a life lesson! So, Jackson, when mean boys or a boss, or life in general calls you a "poopy face", know that your Father is with you saying "No! You are PRECIOUS TO ME! YOu mattered so much that I sent my son to die for you! That is what you are.", then, punch 'em in the face and run away. Ok, just kidding.
So Jackson, you won't hear about a "don't do this list" to be more "christian like", you will hear about the freedom in Him; you won't hear about how going to church every sunday equals a relationship with Jesus, you will see your father and me living out our relationship with Him. You will hear this precious gospel spoken to you because we love you so much that we can't keep it to ourselves, and hopefully you will see our hearts in our words and know, if even in the smallest part, a greater understanding of Jesus' love for you. I love you with all the love I have, and I give you all the love in the world through Him who is LOVE.
-MOM

The finale of The Biggest Loser Couples inspired me to blog about our family's Biggest Loser competition. Yes, I know I haven't kept you all informed about our little weight loss challenge, but its probably because Joey and I are definately losing. I have however planned a comeback. We are weeks away from the final weigh in, but I am still holding out hope that somehow we can pull off the impossible. To be honest I think I am throwing out this last ditch effort simply for pride. When you hear the final weight loss you will understand why. We have pretty much been the slackers and for me I just can't sit back and let it be. So, for the past week I have eaten at least one salad for a meal and have done two a days. This is my secret weight loss weapon. Ok, so its not that "secret", but when I want to lose some weight quickly I work out once before breakfast, and then again after dinner. I have been doing this for the past week and I have really enjoyed it. I wake up, strap the baby in the stroller and go for a run and then after dinner while we're watching Idol or The Biggest Loser, I get on my parent's elliptical and do another 30 to 45 minutes. Throw in a few crunches and push-ups and you've got yourself a great day of exercise. So, wish us luck. We're gonna need it!!! I will post the final results when the competition is over at the end of May. Well, I better go run!!!!

Prego Pics

I have so much to blog, but I am in the process of hunting down all of the cords I need to transfer video onto my computer. It seems to be all boxed up in a storage unit. I am going to see if I can buy another one, we will see. In the meantime I wanted to update everyone on the house selling news. Unfortunately, it fell through the day of the closing. Long story. Anywho, we are still very positive that our house will sell and everything will turn out ok. Ok....on to the good stuff. We went to Longview this weekend to see family and celebrate mothers day. We had SO much fun and yall will see how much as soon as I can track down that cord, but what I can show you are the maternity pictures Jess and I were able to take of Beep and Amanda (my brother and sister in law). SO MUCH FUN! I needed to send a special shout out to Beep, who took the three hour photo shoot like a champ! Unlike most men I know, he didn't even complain!!!! It was amazing! These two are just gorgeous inside and out and we can not wait for little Kingston to be here in one month. Enjoy the pictures!!!!!















check out our website for more of Beep and Amanda's maternity pics: www.jessicawilliamsphotography.com

Prayer for Grant

I wanted to blog about my friend's little boy, Grant. Jess and I were suppose to do a photo shoot with him last weekend, but he has been in the hospital. He was diagnosed with Leukemia on his third birthday. His family is very special to me, and it breaks my heart they are having to go through this. Jess and I have been friends with Amy since 6th grade, and she has a huge place in our hearts and has meant so much to the both of us. I feel helpless and unable to do much, but what I can do is pray. I have promised them that I will be a prayer warrior for them in this hard time, and I wanted to post this special need of theirs on this blog in case anyone else wanted to do the same. It has been such a crazy time for this family, and they have just really been on my heart. I wanted to put their blog on here in case any readers of my blog wanted to keep up with little Grant's story.
www.grantsbigadventure.blogspot.com
I know a few of their prayers are: a good test result on Wednesday, peace about handling everything when they go home, and obviously Grant feeling better. Thanks.

Photography 101

So whats so hard about photography? I mean really, you buy the biggest camera you can find, slap on some really expensive "glass" and clickety click away right? Well, not exactly. I am helping a friend design a photography studio for his garage, which he so wonderfully said we could borrow from time to time. Yeah! So, I have hiked up my "smarty pants" and put on my "thinking cap" and started googling everything about studio photography! I have learned ALOT already in a few short weeks, but it is very different from on location photography. When you are on location all you need to worry about is your camera, flash, the sun and a few cool gadgets you may have to help with lighting and such. When you are in studio there is sooooo much more to it. The sun light that you are simulating requires lots of stuff with weird names that I had never heard of. Whats a snoot? Anyway, I will let you know as it comes together.
Check our our business cards, they came in this week!