Busy Days Ahead

Well, the good news didn't last very long. The week after I posted that we would be staying in Searcy, we found out that we would be moving back to Tulsa this summer. Heath's company will be losing another rig in Searcy this summer resulting in only one rig being here in Searcy. We decided that it would be best for our family if we go ahead and move before school starts this fall rather than take a chance in having to move during the school year. I am actually okay with this because I am ready to get somewhere and have some certainty that we will be there for a while. Things here have been so 'wishy-washy' for over a year now; I think we are all ready to get it over with. The boys are okay with the move too but please start praying for them as they transition into a new place AGAIN. They always do amazingly well each time we move and I thank God for that blessing!!

Our plans are to move outside of Tulsa/Broken Arrow this time so we can put the boys in a smaller school system. Plus, we want to find a house with some acreage so Austin & Kamden can have enough space to shoot their guns or 'go on an adventure in the woods' if they want to. They've already requested a big dog, rabbits, chickens and goats. LOL!

So with all that being said, you can see that we have a really busy summer ahead of us. Austin and Kamden finish baseball at the end of June and then we'll head to Tulsa to go house hunting. Hopefully, we'll find one QUICK and get the paperwork going so we can move in July.

Lots of A's

SCHOOL IS OVER!!! And we are SO glad! Austin and Kamden's report cards came in this week. Austin made all A's all year! Kamden made all A's this 9 week period and all A's & B's for the year!! YAY! We are so proud of them!

Did I mention, summer is here?!? They've only been out of school a week and we've been busy having friends over to swim, sleepovers, baseball and lots of sleeping late. I could get used to this! :)

Pinnacle Mountain

Last weekend we had some of our friends from Tulsa come to visit. We had such a good time hanging out by the pool and fire pit. We grilled burgers and had smores and homemade icecream. On Sunday, we went to Little Rock to climb Pinnacle Mountain. This one was higher than Sugarloaf Mountain that we climbed in the spring and the view at the top was beautiful! Pinnacle Mountain is 1000 feet high! I didn't take any pictures going up but here are some from the top.





Austin with his friend, Jack. He was so excited they came to visit! :)

Homeruns and $100 Bills

You guessed it. We are officially $100 poorer due to a homerun. I don't know if you remember the time Heath promised Austin $100 for hitting a homerun or hitting the ball to the fence. Well, he did it that very night and Heath had to pay up. So, at the beginning of Kamden's season Heath made the same promise to him since he is no longer in t-ball. The first game of the season he hit a triple to the outfield. It would have been a homerun but he stopped at second base just to see how far he'd hit the ball. :) The second game and every game since he has hit the ball to the fence and made a homerun! So, once again, Heath had to pay up.



He has played 5 games and hit 4 homeruns, one of those was a GRANDSLAM!! Needless to say, we had to tell him he only gets $100 for the first homerun otherwise we'd be broke!

Here are some snapshots of him on the field.








Austin is playing baseball this season too. He hasn't hit a homerun yet but he has had some good hits to the outfield. He has been pitching some and he's doing great. When he's not pitching he's playing shortstop.





And since I'm at the ball field every night of the week, I thought it would be appropriate to get a baseball pedicure. :)

Mother's Day Gifts

The boys made me some things at school for Mother's Day. Austin told me on the way home Sunday that he had a gift for me that they made them do at school. (Gee thanks, son!) He's such a caring child. :)



It's a poem he wrote:

I talk to you
when I'm mad
Also when
I'm sad
Sometimes when
I feel like crying
Sometimes when
I feel like dying.
Some people say you're boring,
that you can't have fun
but now I have to run
so...
Happy Mother's Day!


This is Kamden's. He wrote me a letter.



He says:

I am 33 years old.
I am 4 feet tall and weigh 11 pounds.
My favorite color is red.
My favorite food is 'sallid' (salad).
I have always dreamed of being a 'grate mom'.
I love to 'have a nap like Si.'


I sure do love these two and I thank God often for choosing ME to be their momma!

Blanchard Springs Caverns

On Mother's Day before we left Mountain View, we went to Blanchard Springs Cavern. It is in the Ozark National Forest and they have cave tours, campsites, fishing, swimming and hiking trails. I took tons of pictures here because everything was so beautiful, I couldn't resist!

This one was on the trail as we headed to the spring where the water come out of the mountain.


The boys loved climbing the rocks and crossing the creek.
.

And here is the spring!


Austin and Kamden trying to see how close they could get!!


Austin took our picture. He did pretty good. :)


After we saw the spring we followed the creek to the lake and dam.


Beautiful!!



This is Austin looking over the edge of the dam.


This is what he saw:


He had many different ideas about what kind of skeleton that was and how the person/animal died. :) He insisted that I take this picture.

Now on to the Cave Tour:







Posing for pictures...and not very happy about it. :)






Look at their faces. I tried the guilt trip about it being Mother's Day but it didn't work. HA!





That's the end of our weekend trip to Mountain View. Now you can see why the boys are dying to go back. We had SO much fun!

Loco Ropes

While we were in Mountain View this weekend we went to Loco Ropes. This is a treetop adventure park with zip-lines, wall climbing and high wires. All four of us zip-lined. Although a little nerve-racking, it was fun. It's kind of hard to watch your babies get harnessed to a cable and go zooming down a 300' zip-line.

Here goes Kamden.


Now it's my turn.


And here's Heath.


Austin and Kamden had a wall climbing competition.



Heath and Austin decided to take it up a notch and do the more adventurous treetop high wire excursion.

Here are some of their pictures:












At the end, they had to zip-line down to the ground.

Mountain View, AR

We spent the weekend in Mountain View, AR for Mother's Day. It is about 1.5 hours from Searcy. We left Saturday morning and rented a cabin by the creek. We had so much fun, the boys are asking to back this summer.

This is our cabin.


The boys skipping rocks before they decided to go for a swim.


We also went canoeing.

Mountain View has an Ozark Folk Center where you learn about things from the 'old days'. Believe it or not, the boys were very interested in this stuff.

This lady was making yarn.

The Gunsmith Shop.

Pottery Making.

These were only a few. They also had corn shuck doll making, knife shop, soap making, blacksmithing, copper flame painting and others.

We also took the boys to an old country store. We bought bottle cokes and peanuts. Just like the 'good ole days'.



Look closely at the bottom arrow of this sign. It says Olla 309 miles. For those of you that do not know, this as a VERY small town about 15 miles from our hometown of Jena. Heath and I were very surprised to see that arrow!




I have MANY more pictures to post about our weekend but I'm running out of time so I'll be back later! :)