My DOLLBABY

I enjoy this little girl so much. She is such a precious and special addition to our family. She is always full of joy and loves to serve (it's pretty amazing). I just wanted to share a few pics of my two little ones. The one above is of me flat ironing her hair. She loves it, she says it makes her hair long like mine. And, let me tell you, she is girly just like her mommy and Hudson is as much of a boy as his daddy is. All he wants to do is hunt, play in dirt, roar like a dinosaur, and wrestle (fight, fight, fight). It's amazing how different they are, but so funny how similar they are to me and Todd. She looks just like Todd, but acts just like me. Hudson looks just like me, but acts just like Todd. Funny Huh!

This is just something to think about. For the redeemed, this is the only hell we will experience, but for the lost- this is the only heaven they will experience. People let's share our faith and the hope we have with those around us that don't have it.

Been a while

It's been a while since I've blogged, so I thought if I changed my background maybe I would be encouraged to blog a little. So I thought I'ld start by sharing some pictures of us this summer. We have had a busy and fun summer. My mom was here for 6 months. She rented an apartment while she had her home on the coast for sale. Anyway, it sold and she's back home. We miss her terribly!

16 random things about ME

I was tagged a few weeks ago now by my dear friend Allison Stephens, who by the way I MISS SOOOOOO much.
Okay so here goes, I may get 16 maybe a little less, but I'm trying. I'm really not that interesting of a person.

1. I am an only child and I love it.

2. I am also the only child that I knew growing up that could have a coke with my breakfast.

3. When I was younger, I ate a pickle every night before I went to bed. And I wonder now why I have a problem eating healthy.

4. I sleep under 4 blankets at night.

5. I love snuggling with my children, kissing their sweet faces, holding and looking at them. I really think I could do it all night. I love it!

6. I have worn two different shoes in public more than once.

7. I broke my tailbone on a slide in Germany.

8. I broke a bone in my foot whild in Spain. (I think I need to quit traveling out of the country)

9. Those were the only two bones I've ever broken.

10. I think these past three years have been the most difficult in terms of making and developing good friendships. I have begun to wonder at times if it's my stage of life or if it's really something about me. I would say me, but then I think of all the good friends I've made prior to living here and I have great, good and lasting friendships.

11. I have a cup of coffee every morning when I wake up.

12. I shot a bird when hunting with my husband once and started to cry. Let's say I've never been hunting again.

13. I hate exercise, but I love to jazzercise. It's the only workout I've every really enjoyed doing. I recommend it to any of you that hate the gym.

14. I am not crafty, but try my hardest to be. I am such a copycat when it comes to making things.

15. My best friend today is my best friend from when I was 4 months old, that's when she was born. I guess you could say we're like sisters. We're the only sister each of us has ever known.

16. I am not an organized person, but really want to be. I really think it's something that you're born with or not. Is there any of you that would disagree with me? Because if you do, I would love to know how to work toward being an organized person or if you have tips.

Okay, so now I'm done and I now tag Paula Cibula, Kim Cobb, and Amanda Skinner, if you guys haven't already done this.

Jesus' birthday party

H.T.'s school had a Christmas program a few nights ago and so on our way home we were talking about gifts and the true meaning and reason we celebrate Christmas. So here's how the conversation goes. With much excitement from me.

Mom: H.T. buddy, do you know why we celebrate Christmas?

H.T.: nothing (which we've talked about over and over, Jesus' birthday)

Mom: Well buddy, we celebrate Christmas, because it's Jesus' birthday. So we're really celebrating Jesus' birthday.

H.T.: Uh Huh

Then we started talking about going to Grammy and Poppy's for Christmas and how we were going to get to open Christmas gifts and give them their Christmas gifts from us.

Mom: H.T. do you know that Jesus gave us the best gift of all.

H.T.: Yeah

Mom: Do you know that Jesus came here and lived on earth and that he gave us his life, so that we may know him and live with God forever.

He came to cover all of our sins. Sometimes, like when we don't obey or we hit our sister or say mean things to others, anything that we may do that isn't so nice, these things are sin buddy.

H.T.: Yeah, and dragons aren't nice, they're mean and I can stick my tongue out at them and I can hit them. I can shoot spiders and snakes and stick my tongue out at them.

Mom: Yelp buddy, you sure can.H.T. eating while he decorates.

They got to decorate their cupcakes and then sing Happy birthday to Jesus. It was precious!

Christmas program. He saw me and got excited.

My LIFE these days

We seem to be too busy these days. I feel at times I don't have time to sit and play with my children. I am busying myself with too many other projects, whether it be getting ready for vacation, redecorating the house, calling pest control, cleaning, laundry and anything else you can imagine.
My heart breaks when I read a friends blog who has just lost her little girl. I sit, wonder and pray for her and her family and can't imagine what she is going through. Please, pray for this family, if you're interested in her blog, you can go to Atchison family from my blog.
Another good friend (Amy Cook, she's really neat you should read her blog too), one day they will be too old to ask you to play and we'll wish we had played with them when they were asking us to. There are so many times that I've told Hudson I would play with him later because I was having to cook, unload the dish washer, iron or some other thing that's not nearly as important as he is.
Todd and I have really been missing Birmingham lately, not the city itself, but our great friends there. We have been here a little over 2 1/2 years now and still feel homesick. We miss all of you from there so much and wish we could be living our lives with you and your families.
This was a quick update of me and what's going on right now.

Barcelona,Spain

This is Todd in front of a Catholic church being built. It is huge and is not finished. It's actually really sad, this church is being paid for by the people in Barcelona, because they believe that if they give money to build this building, it is paying for their sins. This makes me sad that they actually believe their sins can be paid for by anything other than Christ. He is our only redeemer! Also, a very small percentage of people actually do attend a church service. This is being built for tourists.

We took a boat ride and saw these ridiculously huge jellyfish. And, there were tons of windsurfers out there. What were they thinking?

Needless to say we did not go on the beach. Where would we have put our towels and umbrella had we decided to go? Another tidbit, you could wear your top if you wanted or you could just take it off. No big deal!

Okay, not a good picture of me, but this was us on our way to the gala. We ate at the place that Christopher Columbus's welcoming home celebration took place. The buildings there were beautiful.

All in all, we had a great time. It was good for us to hang out, sleep in, tour and shop the city.

Our hotel was lovely and guess who stayed there while we were there. The cast of Batman. I didn't see them, but some others from our group did. They had their opening premiere one evening that we were there. I think it was a day or two after Christian Bale was released from jail. Huuummm!!!!

Hair Tip #3 (i think)

So I haven't written lately on hair tips. I guess this really isn't a tip it's just a suggestion if you're someone like me who's had your hair highlighted for years. For the past few years I've had my hair highlighted and low lighted at the same time. It makes for a pretty color, but in the past year or two, the styles have had a more solid hair color look. Are most of these still highlighted? Yes! What some of the stylists are doing is highlighting and low lighting the hair then using a toner to soften the look making the hair appear a solid color. Are some of these not highlighted? Yes! Some are just going dark all over. I'm sure you've seen this in magazines, television, etc. So my suggestion is go for a solid color look. Is my hair highlighted still? Yes, but much smaller weaves, which also let's you go longer between services because the new growth is not as obvious.

For products, my all time favorite is Kerastase! Love it, Love it, Love it! It's expensive, but it's good.

I would love to share a picture of Lauren Conrad with you. She has this darker look, but still blond. It's a great shade. I just can't find the picture, so if you're in the grocery store, it's in Entertainment weekly this week.