A YaYa Weekend!

This past weekend I had the opportunity to travel to Centerton, AR for a weekend with my YaYa's. You see, one of us (Christine) and her husband have moved to Centerton where Russell is working in the corporate offices of Walamart. We decided to go to their new house to celebrate all our summer birthdays. So, on Friday, Annette, Christine and I headed toward NW, AR while Norman and Russell waited on us to get there. It was so much fun to be "On the Road Again" as Willie would say. We have traveled on many occasions but have not gotten to do so in a while. We had a wonderful time of chatting and laughing on the way. We also enjoyed getting to visit with two other friends who live in that area, Lara and Lela. What a lively time we had at Panera Bread on Saturday where we met for lunch. We laughed and talked for about 2 1/2 hours! It was great to catch up on all that is going on in each of our lives.

Christine and Russell have a beautiful home. We loved getting to spend some extended time with them in their new location. They are wonderful hosts...the food was great and the time together was sweet. We hope to get to make many more trips to that part of our state to visit with them.

Here are a few pictures of our stay.

The YaYa's...Christine, Annette, and me.

Their cat, Fonzie, loves to sit on the back of the chair. I look like I have a fur collar.

This is little Kenzington, Russell's new kitten.

He is a Persian/Himalayan mix.

This is what we did a good bit of our time there...sit, talk, and watch movies....oh, and eat!

This is going to be a tough year for Christine and Russell...both their daughters will be entering college...Lindsey will begin at the University of AR in August..and Ashley will be a Freshman at UCA. Christine will be living in Little Rock while continuing to be the band director at Little Rock Christian for one more year and Russell will be living in Centerton and working at Walmart corporate offices. Although, they will be scattered in all directions and experiencing a new family dynamic this year, their connection to the YaYa's will remain the same.

The three of us have been through good times, bad times, happy times, sad times, depressing times and times of great joy....through them all we have formed a very strong bond. When any one of us has a need, the other two are always there to love, support, encourage and yes, sometimes to say the hard things. We are very grateful for the friendship God has given us...a cord of three is not easily broken.

Peaceful Innocense

We got to keep Camryn this past weekend while Andrea was out of town. I took these pictures of Cam on Sunday morning right before I woke her up to get ready for church. I did a little editing but it just helps to emphasize her pure innocence. When you look at her like this you just want to stop time so she will always be sweet and innocent. But that is not what God has planned for us or her. Seeing her asleep like this takes me back to when she was a baby which was not so long ago. These pictures scream to me, ENJOY THE MOMENTS because she is quickly growing up right before my eyes. I don't know what lies ahead for her, but I hope and pray she will always stay close to God; that she will grow up to be all He wants her to be and that she would always bring honor to Him with her life. I pray that the peaceful innocense shown in these pictures will always prevail in her life. Precious little angel face

Sweet dreams my little sunshine!

My New Favorite Kitchen Appliance

This is my new "favorite" kitchen appliance. It is called a Flavorwave. About a week or so ago Andrea came in telling me about this appliance that her boyfriend's mom has that she wanted. I got the scoop from Zac as to what it was and where he got it, because he also has one. He told me I could find them at http://www.thane.com/ . So, of course, I got online and checked it out. After reading all about it, I ordered me one. It is wonderful in that you can cook a whole meal in it at one time if you plan well. It will also cook things from a completely frozen state, thereby reducing the from the freezer to the table time, when you come in from work and have forgotten to leave something out to thaw that morning before you left for work. As it says from the instruction manual: "It improves on traditional convection ovens in the following ways:

1. The Flavorwave Oven Turbo bowl is made of glass, not metal, so that you can clearly see what you are cooking from all sides
2. The Flavorwave Oven Turbo combines a circular bowl with a fan mounted on the lid so that hot air currents move down over the food, around the bowl's sides, and then back up to the fan. This creates a tornado-like flow of constantly moving, super-heated air that cooks and browns food quickly and thoroughly.
3. The Flavorwave Oven Turbo uses cooking racks that allow you to cook two levels of food at once. In addition, when meat, poultry, or fish is cooked on the lower rack, fats and oils are blown away through the grating. You will cook lighter, more nutritious meals. "

This is what it looks like.
Here I am cooking a pork chop (from a frozen state) and a baked potato.

I sprayed the pork chop with "I Can't Believe it's Not Butter" then dipped it in crushed Ritz crackers then cooked it for 20 minutes.

It was browned on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside.
So far, I have cooked, chicken breast, steamed potatoes and carrots, Garlic Bread, pork chops and a baked potato in it.

I will most likely not use the Flavorwave for baking potatoes because it takes alittle longer. I will continue to use my microwave for that. But the meats are wonderful when cooked in this appliance. I am looking forward to trying many other things in it. Basically, anything you can cook in a conventional oven, you can cook in the Flavorwave, without heating up your kitchen and it is done in approximately half the time and all in one bowl! So less mess to clean up!

They are not paying me to say this or to plug their product. I just wanted my friends to know about it.

Hurricane Harbor

Fortunately for us, Camryn only danced on Tuesday and Thursday, so that left us two days to do what we wanted. On Monday, we just played in the pool at the motel. Although, it was a bit foggy (Camryn said it was green and dirty) in color we still gave it a shot. Camryn was not too happy about it but she finally got in since the rest of us did. Then on Wednesday, we spent the day at Hurricane Harbor...a huge waterpark that is affiliated with Six Flags. It was a lot of fun, although Camryn was afraid to go on most of the slides or fun stuff. She loved the Wave pool and just wanted to stay in that the whole day. Of course Andrea would hear none of that...so the fight was on.......again. Finally, her Papaw got her to go down one of the slides with him..she loved it. So, she did it one more time by herself. I can't say that I blame her for not wanting to slide because the lines for all of them were so long and it was so hot while you waited that it was not that appealing especially when you could be in the wave pool the whole time and stay cool. Later in the day Norman ventured around the place and found Captain Hooks Lagoon for younger kids that was a lot like the kids place at Silver Dollar City. This was right up Camryn's alley. She loved it. We stayed there the rest of the day...that is until they made everyone get out and they closed that section down. Evidently some little kid had pooped in one of the pools at the end of the slide. So, they had to get the floater out and re-chlorinate the pool. By then it was so near to closing time that we decided to call it a day because we were pretty wiped out from all the sun and swimming. All in all, though, we had a super time at the water park.
Also, kudos to Coppertone 30 spf sunscreen, none of us burned!
Enjoy the pictures of our day!

Camryn and Andrea at the motel pool.
You can tell the water is not clear because you can barely see Camryn's legs.

Doing a hand stand.

Here they are in the wave pool at Hurricane Harbor

This was Captain Hook's Lagoon...an area for the younger kids. That big huge bucket fills up with water about every 5 minutes or so and then tips over spilling water on those standing below. They also have slides that go off the play house. Camryn loved this place.

This is what it looks like before the bucket tips.

They also had this area where kids could walk across the water on logs and rocks while holding on to the net. Camryn is watching how the boys are doing it and planning her tactic for getting across. I might add that all the boys in front of her fell into the water before making it across. But our little dancing girl...dogged em, because she made it all the way across without falling in. Go Girl! Show those boys how to do it!!

Away she goes!

The stomach muscles she has built up as a result of her dancing proved to be a great asset to her in being able to accomplish this task.

Look at that determination...she is almost there!

Success!!! Way to go, Camryn!

That is Andrea with her hand on her head...Camryn is behind her.

They got completely soaked, but loved it!

Momma and daughter

Nanna and Camryn

And finally....Papaw with her.

This was a great place and we had a super fun time at the water park!

Showbiz National Dance Competition in Arlington, TX

On July 5th we traveled down to Arlington, TX for a week of dancing at the Showbiz National Dance Competition. This was Camryn's second year to perform a solo. She has really improved so much in this second year of working with Ms. Marisa. It is amazing the things she can do at the tender age of seven. She also has a duet with a little girl who is a year older than her. They are like dynamite together...one spurs the other on to do better and the enthusiasm they both have for their dance routine is infectious. It has been a great year and Nationals should prove to put the icing on the cake for our little dancer.
Below are some pictures of our room and the first day of competition.

Camryn and Andrea playing in the room.
Our rooms were not what you would call plush, but they were comfortable.

Norman unloading our ice chest.

Camryn doing a little stretching while watching TV.

Time to apply the makeup for the first day of competition.

The pictures don't really show it but the tension runs high about this time between Andrea and Camryn...lots of whining on Camryn's part and irritation on Andrea's.

You can tell by the looks on their faces...they are not too happy at this point.

Camryn is in a stare while her hair is being rolled.

All dressed and ready to go!

Dance Mom and daughter

What a beautiful face and smile!

Camryn, sporting her cool shades, is ready to rock!

Walking in to the convention center

Ready for a run through of her routine

Practice before she hits the stage.

A kiss for luck from Momma

Camryn enjoys chatting with the other MKDS dancers while waiting on the awards to be given out.

Camryn gets High1st place points.

She ranked 7th overall! Woo Hoo!!! We were so proud of her!

Here the announcer was asking her who choreographed her dance. Of course she said in her sweet southern drawl...Ms. Marisa Kirby.

Here she is waiting on the duet/trio awards to be given out.

She and Callen received High1st place points on this dance as well.

Way to go, girls!

And they were ranked 4th overall...just one place away from receiving money!

Again, she tells the guy that Ms. Marisa Kirby choreographed their routine!

Here they are with their plaques...all smiles!

Ms. Karen is loving her little "Holly Rockers!"

And here they are with their awesome teacher, Ms. Marisa Kirby. She was so proud of them!

The long hot walk back to the car...this ends day one of the National competition.

This has been an awesome year for Camyn. I am really a little sad to see it end. I have loved her dances and it will be hard to get used to a new routine. However, next year we are going to let her add another solo (totaling two) and a duet as well as the two large group dances she is required to do. She will be working with a new teacher, Ms. Kristen Sadler, this year on a lyrical solo. She is really excited to be working with Camryn and Camryn is excited to be doing another solo. She really loves being on stage with all the people watching her!

Now, I just wonder where she got that trait....hmmmm????