Are You Ready For Some Baseball.....

Yesterday started out with another exciting soccer game! Cadyn scored 2 goals. He was being Mr. Macho and trying not to get too excited but made his day!


After soccer we grabbed some lunch and then it was on to Cadyn's first Baseball game. This year it a little tougher becasue they have to try and hit the ball from a pitching machine. They get like 5 tries with the machine and if they have not hit the ball yet they get to hit it off a tee. I think they did pretty well yesterday it is just going to take lots of practice since teh machine isn't real consistent. All that matters is that they all had fun and I think that was accomplished! Here are some pictures...

Cadyn's first time up to bat

Dusty is the assistant coach for our team so he got the job of operating the pitching machine

Cadyn was clowning around in teh dugout

The Indians lined up waiting for their turn to bat

I just had to add this picture in of Camryn eating spaghetti last night. He has a fork in his hand but it never seemed to touch the plate! He just used his hands to stuff it in. He LOVES spaghetti!

He Scored!!!!!

So if you haven't been to one of Cadyn's soccer games you are really missing a good time! At the beginning of the season Dusty and I were questioning if this was the right sport for him but in such a short amount of time we have seen Cadyn go from not knowing at all what to do on the field to being one of the best players on the team. He has caught on to soccer quick and just gets in there and hustles and kicks the ball like you would not believe. He had a game last night and it was so much fun! It was his best game yet! His team has not had the best of luck this season scoring goals so Cadyn has been determined the past couple of games to get in there and score. Well, last night was no exception! Before we left the house he was telling us that this was going to be the night that he would score his first goal. We encourage him to do his best but also remind him that is not about who wins but about how much fun you have. The game started out kinda bad for him because he fell and got stepped on his face. After a little bit of crying he was ready to get back in the game. He looked over at me at one point and said "Mom, I am going to score a goal tonight and nothing can stop me". Well sure enough he got out there and got one in. It was right at the edge but the coaches counted it. After the game we overheard the one of the dads that was helping out tell the Coach that Cadyn was awesome! We were so proud of him! I told Dusty that he might just need to play fall soccer since he is doing so well! Cadyn went on and on about how much fun he had and he can't wait till the next game. He had to make a few phone calls and let everyone know about his big night!


We are supposed to have a baseball scrimmage tonight but it looks like there is rain moving in and it will probably get cancelled. But don't worry, we have a aoccer game first thing saturday morning and then the first real baseball game in the afternoon! I will let you all know how it goes!


Hope you all have some fun weekend plans!

Me & My Dad (& My Fish)

This picture of Dusty and Cadyn was taken yesterday after their fishing trip. I just thought it was so cute and wanted to share it!

Cadyn's Big Day

Okay, let me start out by saying the weather this weekend has been absolutely fabulous! We have spent every second we can outside enjoying it! So, since it was going to be such a beautiful day Dusty, Pop and Cadyn decided to take Pop's boat out and go for a little fishing trip this morning. Cadyn had his clothes on and a Wal-Mart sack filled with snacks ready to go early. About 10am the phone rang and it was Cadyn telling me that he had caught a big catfish! He was so excited! It ended up being about 6 pounds. Pretty big one for such a little guy! Pop caught 2 fish but Cadyn and to make sure and let everyone know that his catfish was bigger than than both of Pop's fish. I think they all had a lot of fun and will be planning another guy's fishing trip soon!

Cadyn's catfish

Camryn didn's know quite what to think about the fish. He just kept saying "Hi Fish".

Cadyn's next big adventure of the day was going to a Razorback Baseball game with my Dad (a.k.a. Paw). The Razorbacks were playing Tennessee today and unfortunately got beat 6-7 but I don't think that that upset them. Cadyn said he had a blast and is ready to go back again.

Cadyn got a hog painted on his cheek today and I wanted to take a picture and show everyone but as you can tell by his expression he wasn't wanting to pose for me!

Our Saturday

What a day! I participated in the Race for the Cure this morning. There was a whole group of us from church that came to support Ms Judy Bell so our team was appropriately named Judy's Belles! It was a lot of fun and good excercise.

Our team "Judy's Belles"
Me, Brandy & Meredith
Me & Michelle

After the Race I met Dusty & the kids at the ballpark for Cadyn's soccer game. This was only their 3rd full game and I have to say we can see that Cadyn is really catching on now. He was such a little scrapper today and got in there and hustled. He came so close to scoring his first goal today but it didn't quite get in there. We were so proud!

Next on the list for the day was baseball practice for Cadyn. What were we thinking when we signed him up to play 2 sports that the seasons overlap!? So, Dusty and Cadyn headed to the ballpark while Camryn and I went to Lake Atlanta to meet Spencer and his date Ashley and take some prom pictures. I still can't believe he is old enough to be going to prom! It just seems like yesterday he running around in diapers and in my room touching all my things and making me mad! How time flies! Spencer has turned into such a handsome man and we are so proud of him!

Spencer and his date Ashley

This is kind of gross but this afternoon, while we were outside playing with the kids , Dusty discovered this bat hanging on the side of our house. It freaked me out a little bit but my father in law assured me that they were good to have around to kill the mice. Whatever you say Roger!

Hope everyone has had an interesting and fun day too!

Beaver Dam

Last Sunday Me, Cadyn, Camryn, Mom and Dad took a little road trip up to Beaver Dam. Since we have had a ton of rain in the last month the lake has risen to record levels. The Corps of Engineers had to open the gates on the dam last week to a record 9ft. The gates have only been open on the dam 7 times since it was built in the 1960's and 4 of those times have been this year. We were hoping to see the gates open when we got there but by the time we arrived Sunday afternoon they were already closed. There is a picnic and play/swim area next to the highway right before you go over the dam and you could see where the water had completely covered it up and was even with the highway before they opened the gates. We drove on down to the camping area and you can see from the picture below that there were still some spots under water but I am sure it was much worse the few previous days.

This picture was taken from the visitors outlook

This is the White River below Beaver Dam that the water empties into when they open the gates. Usually it is a small stream but you can see it was a pretty wide from all the water!

This is some of the campsites that were under water. See the picnic table!

Poor little Camryn couldn't take it any longer. He passed out and missed most of the road trip!

My Dad has a cousin that lives on the river below Beaver Dam so we decided we would go by and check on them and see if they had any flooding. Well, when we pulled up we saw carpet laying all over the yard and clothes and shoes laying out to dry. They were woke up about 10pm Friday night by their neighbors yelling to them that they needed to get out of their house because the river was rising. When they came downstairs the water was already up to their knees on the bottom floor of the house and before it was all said and done they had 5ft of water in the house. Needless to say the whole downstairs of the house has to be gutted and rebuilt. Dad's cousin joked that she had needed new appliances in the kitchen and she had been meaning to clean out the closets for a a while now so this just gave her the little push she needed to get it all done! Material things can be replaced and I think they were just thankful that was all they had to deal with!

We have a pretty busy weekend ahead of us! I am walking in the Komen Race tomorrow morning and Cadyn has Soccer and Baseball tomorrow so we will be running around like chickens with our heads cut off. I am sure I will have lots to post later on about our crazy weekend!

One more thing regarding my participation in the Komen Race. Cadyn has been very curious this week about this race. He has asked me a lot of questions but still doesn't quite get what I am doing. Last night we were talking about our Saturday plans and he said "and Mom you are going to be in a dog race?". I corrected him and said no sweetie it is the Komen race and I will be walking in it with Aunt BB, Michelle and a bunch of other people. He seemed to get it and that was that! Well, Cadyn's teacher and I were emailing back and forth today about some stuff and just when I thought we were done I got one last email from her with the subject "I forgot!!!". Then she said to have fun at the dog races this weekend! I immediately started cracking up and sent her back and said "oh, is that what Cadyn told you?" I told her it was the Komen Race I was going to and for some reason he thinks it is a dog race. She sent back and said he told her that I was going to Memphis to the dog races! By now I have laughed uncontrollably for 20 minutes straight! This was too funny! I told her this was definately a story to share and she said she was writing it in her kindergarten stories she has kept over the years. Kids come up with the darndest stories!

Have a great weekend!

Saturday Fun

Cadyn had his second soccer game this morning and even though the wind was fierce and it was bitterly cold I think everyone had a good time.

Cadyn tried to keep warm while taking a break from the game

This afternoon we went to Meredith's birthday party with the family. I think she racked up pretty good again today on presents!

Brandy made some yummy cupcakes and as you can see on Dusty's teeth the icing definately left evidence of them!

We had a fun day! Hope yours was too!

Tattoo Boy and Camryn Jake

Not a whole lot going on here so I thought I would post some snapshots of the boys!

Cadyn decided this afternoon that he wanted to put on a tattoo well and as you can see by the pictures he ended up with 5. My favorite was the Pirates of Carribean on his back. I asked him to smile for the picture and you can see what I got! LOL!

Did you spot the multiple nigh nights in the bed. Got to make sure and have plenty handy! It would be a tragedy of we could not find one!

Saying "cheese" for the camara

This is directly after the first picture when he decided to throw himself on the floor and pitch a fit. That's our boy!

We have a pretty busy day tomorrow with a soccer game, Meredith's party and baseball practice!

My friend Jodie commented on the last post with the flood pictures that I should take "after" pictures of when the water goes back down. I thought that was a great idea! So Jodie, I will get out sometime this weekend and take some more pictures and post them!

The Rain Came Down And The Floods Came Up

Wow, it has rained a ton here since last night and with the ground already completely saturated from all the rain we have had in the past month there is no where for all of the water to go. Camryn and I went out on a little adventure this morning and took some pictures around Cave Springs of the swollen creeks. I have only seen them this high one other time in the past 14 years.

This is going east on 264 west headed into Cave as we were crossing the bridge. This creek is usually small enough to pass through on a 4 wheeler with no problem

This is just the other side of the bridge

This is coming down Evening Star Road at the first corner looking out into the field

This is at the second corner on Evening Star and as you can see the creek has come up and covered the road. You can kinda see in the distance where the water should be.

And this is where the water should be but not so much of it. There is a small bridge here that has been completely swollen by the water. You can see the signs that are on the side of the bridge.

The Creeks Golf Course in Cave

Another view of the Golf Course

And I had a good surprise this morning! Camryn and I were almost done at Wal-Mart with our grocery shopping when I spotted one of my sweet friends Tessa (Nalley) Horensky. Tessa and I met about 7 years ago when she came to work at Sam's home office and I was the one that got the priviledge to train her! She just recently got married this past December (and what a beautiful wedding it was) to her longtime love Dave and moved to Kansas City. She was down in our neck of the woods today and I was just so lucky to happen to run into her! Tessa is such a beautiful, sweet and godly woman and I am so lucky to call her one of my friends even though we don't get to see each other often! Tessa, if you read this it was so good to see you today and please keep in touch! Love ya!

Have you missed us??

Okay, I know it's been a long time but I am finally ready to get back to the blogging world! I really have no other excuse except for I have been lazy and have not taken the time to update you all on what's been going on with us. With that, here is a quick review from the past week or so.....

Last Monday we had Cadyn's conference with his teacher. She had nothing but wonderful things to say about him! She said he was one of the only ones in his class that knows all his money. We just chuckled when she told us that. If you know Cadyn you know that he loves to collect money for his piggy bank and has been an expert for a long time at counting it and letting us know how much he has. She also said he has excelled in Kindergarten this year and it should be an easy transition to 1st grade. We just need to keep reading with him over the summer to keep him refreshed. We were so proud of him!

The Blood Drive

Cadyn's school held a blood drive last Tuesday and asked all the parents who could to come and donate. The class with the most parent participation would be rewarded. So, of course Cadyn begged Dusty and I to come and donate. Well, Dusty got off easy because he was on duty but I was a sucker and agreed to go and do my part. I have to say I was a little nervous but it all went well. They pretty much have to know your life history before you can donate and you have to fill out a ton of paperwork. That part took longer than the actual donation! In the end it all went well. The nurses found out real quick when they poked me that I have really good blood flow and it took no time to fill up my bag. And most important, It made Cadyn happy and he got a t-shirt for all the pain and suffering I had to go through! Oh, and I just have to mention one more thing....We were all riding in the car a few days after I had donated and I was showing Cadyn there was still a hole in my arm from where they inserted the needle and his eyes got really big and he proceeded to tell us that "If I have a kid one day and his school has a blood drive and he asks me to donte I will say NO WAY". That little turkey!

Lets see, last Thursday we had torrential downpours throughtout the day so needless to say soccer practice was cancelled again. They have only had 2 practices and 1/2 a game because of all the rain we keep getting.

Saturday was a pretty busy and eventful day. The Cave Springs Fire Department had their annual pancake breakfast that morning so we went and enjoyed some good breakfast and visiting. Later that afternoon Cadyn had his first baseball practice. Dusty is the assitant coach this year for his baseball team. The Coach was out of town on Saturday so Dusty did the practice with some help from some of the other dads. He did a great job and the kids had a lot of fun! That evening we took thet kids to Mom and Dad and Dusty and I went out for a date. We ate dinner at The Outback (yummy) and then went to the movies and saw Leatherheads. We don't get to get out by ourselves very often so it was a treat. We had a lot of fun!

Sunday afternoon turned out to be beautiful so we decided to hook the new boat up and go cruisin' on the lake. We put in at Horseshoe Bend and rode all the way up to Lost Bridge. Once we got closer to Lost Bridge the water went from muddy brown to a beautiful blue. It was a perfect day to be out there and the kids enjoyed every minute of it! Here are some pictures of our adventure....

Last but certainly not least yesterday was our neice Meredith's 11th birthday! It just seems like yesterday that we were playing with and spoiling our little curly haired princess and now look at her she is practically grown up already! Meredith has turned into such a beautiful girl with such and bubbly spirit and contagious smile. We are so proud of her and love her so much! Happy Birthday Sweetie!

I know I said it was going to be a quick review but I get carried away easily! I promise to be better and not stay gone so long!