I am soooo far behind....

There is just not enough time in the day for me to get done all that I need/would like to get done! I've put blogging on the back burner the past couple of weeks since the boys are fixing to start back to school and I've enjoyed just spending the time with my kids instead of on the computer. There's not been anything huge that's happened...just life. I don't have just a whole lot of time right now either to write a real long post so I've just posted several pictures to sort of highlight what's been happening!!

Grace LOVES LOVES LOVES to ride the 4-wheeler!! She has spent alot of time riding it with either her daddy or her bubbas! One morning last week she and Gene came running into the house looking for the camera because there was a group of deer next door to us and there was a little spotted baby! Grace thought it was just the neatest thing and they actually just stood there forever eating and watching us!

One of the things I love about living in the country is being able to look out and see deer in our front yard..or neighbor's yard!!

Gene has a love of guns and hunting and there is so much camo stuff in my house it's not even funny. It's typically scattered throughout our bedroom and closet and Grace found one of his hats and decided it was just her size!!

Now, I don't think I've ever shared with you about Grace's "look!" See....she started this several months ago and when we say "Grace, give us your look!" she does this! It cracks me up everytime!!

This is sort of the "look" but not quite. She's quite the little entertainer and there is most definitely never a dull moment in the Johnson household!

I had posted about wanting to find a hammock for Grace's stuffed animals and I didn't even know if they still made them but I found one on Target online and ordered it. Her room looks so much better with all of them off the floor! Plus she can't throw them all over the place now! I'm not realy crazy about the chain hanging across the front and will probably take it down. When we hang animals on the clothes pins they just look so sad! :(

I don't have a story for this picture, I just love it and the softness of it! My little girl is not so little anymore!

Grace is still a huge fan of bath time! She has now taken to trying to swim in the bathtub. Well, at least "going under water!" Since I'm only home 2 nights of the week I love giving her a bath and last night while she was sitting there playing I was filing my nails and heard her start talking so I peered over the tub and she was talking to her big pink duck. The conversation, obviously one-sided, went something like this:

Grace: "Here you go ducky, you want to hug? Give her kiss!"

Duck: (Silence)

Grace: "You want to go to my house? Ok. Come one." (stands up...walks to other side of tub) "Here you go, here's my house."

It was so stinking funny and I had to grab my camera!

She went on talking for a while and then realized I was taking pictures and said "take our pitcher" so I obliged! She kept squeezing her ducks up to her face and giving them kisses. She's so smart and so funny!

Yesterday while I was cleaning the upstairs living room I had to pull her tent out from behind the big bean bag and you would have thought it was brand new again! She asked me to bring it downstairs and she spent the better part of the evening playing in it. Colt decided he needed to play too so he started crawling through the tunnel! Grace thought it was hilarious and crawled on top of him!!

Colt had a doctor's appointment this morning and then I had to drop him off at his mom's house with Corey. Gene was supposed to be off today but ended up getting called out and worked most of the morning. When Grace and I got home she was watching Dora and they were going to the beach on a pirate ship so she turned the tile by our front door into the ocean and she and her babies went "swimming!" I was cleaning up after lunch and when I turned around she'd stripped down to her panties and told me she didn't need them to swim in. All of her babies were already swimming...as you can see! Quite the imagination!

In other news, the boys start back to school next Wednesday then Colt turns 16 the following Wednesday, the 26th. I can't believe he's almost 16! Corey is excited to be a 9th grader and now officially in high school! We're having Colt's party on the 29th and then the following weekend we'll be headed down to Alma because Gene is going to build a deck on the back of Granny's house!! She is so super excited about it and has wanted one for forever. Lucky for her I married a carpenter!!! There is other more serious stuff I want to eventually post about but not today. I need to get off here and get dinner started!

It feels good to be back!!!

Soaking Up Some Sun!!

The past few summers I have only gone swimming about 3 times. Sad I know, but I don't know anybody with a pool and there was no way I was taking my kids to the Springdale Aquatic Center because it's always so so crowded and I knew it wouldn't be much fun. So, early this week I remembered that Prairie Grove has an aquatic park also that was supposed to be much better than Springdale's. Gene told me he and the boys used to go all the time a few years ago so I decided that yesterday I would take the kids. However, I needed a swimsuit, so we made an Old Navy run Thursday and I was able to find one that I like. The best part is it was on sale so I got a $40 swimsuit for $10!! Can't beat that! I also found Grace a little cover-up and I found me one at Wal-Mart. The pool doesn't open until noon so the plan was for me to be done with my errands yesterday morning in time to be at the pool by noon. Well, that didn't work out so well, which was ok because I'm sure it was really crowded then.

We ended up not getting there until right at 2 and there were quite a few people there but not real bad, and we were able to find some chairs under a pavillion by the kiddy pool so it was shady. We all got coated with sunscreen and took off for the water! I bought Grace some floaties but they didn't work very well so we ended up taking them off and one of us just held her. The best part about their pool was that the big main one starts out like a beach where it's just super shallow and you can just sit in it then it gradually slopes to the deep end, which is still only 5 ft, so Corey and I hung out a lot up there while Colt and Grace walked and swam back and forth. It was perfect for her because there was a huge area where Grace could walk and play without having to be held. She absolutely loved it!

Colt got all of his hair cut off yesterday! He got it cut while they were in Florida last week but the girl who did it didn't do a very good job so yesterday he went with me to get my eyebrows done and Salwa fixed it for him! He wanted it short enough to spike on top and his hair hasn't been this short since Gene and I first got together almost 4 years ago. He actually was really pleased with it and I think it looks great!

Corey thinks he's a stud muffin in his sunglasses!! While he and I were sitting in the water this little boy came up to us and asked Corey what his name was. Instead of answering he just looked at me so I told him his name was Corey! The kid floated off to a group of girls who then started giggling and looking over at us! As if that wasn't funny enough, about an hour later the same kid came back up to us and asked how old he was. I just started laughing and Corey, without skipping a beat, said "I'm 18." What?! I just looked at him and started laughing even harder!! The kid apparently believed him because he toddled off and told the girls! The whole rest of the day the girls kept walking back and forth in and out of the water past us trying to get Corey's attention. It didn't work. He wasn't interested, but it was just too funny!

I am absolutely in love with this picture of the kids!! We have very few pictures of all of them together and I was able to get them all to cooperate long enough yesterday to get a couple and this one was the best one! I'll be framing it!

Isn't Grace's swimsuit adorable?! One of my friends from work bought Grace a giftcard to Gymboree for her birthday and when I went to use it they had just put out the summer stuff and I found this swimsuit. Too cute and she just had to have it! Every hour on the hour the lifeguards blow a whistle and everyone has to get out of the water for a 5 minute break, which is a good thing, because it was easy to get Grace out of the water to get more sunscreen on her. Of course as soon as she saw everyone else getting back in the water she'd look up at me and say "I wanna go schwimmin 'gen!" It was quite the struggle getting her out of it when it was time to leave!

I love this one of me and Grace too because of the black and white! I think I'll frame it too! We really did have a blast at the pool and even though it was over 90 degrees outside it was the perfect weather because while you were in the water it was awesome and then when we were out it was good because being wet kept us cool plus the shade was cool!! Mom was going to go with us but couldn't bring herself to get out in the heat. I told her it was perfect though and she's decided next time she'll be joining us!! I'm hoping maybe next week again!

Route 66 Trip - Days 1, 2, 3, & 4

If you own a motorcycle and ever have a free week, I strongly recommend taking a trip down old Route 66!! Gene and I left at 6:30 am on Sunday, July 13th to head to Amarillo, TX. We went with some good friends of ours, Steve and Jennie Wherenberg. The plan was to drive straight to Amarillo the first day and we were going to gradually work our way back home on Route 66.

On Friday the 4th, Gene and I rode over to Steve and Jennie's house in Farmington so that I could get a little accustomed to the bike. I will say I almost fell off once!! Gene didn't put the sissy bar (passenger backrest) on so I HAD to hold on to him to keep from going backwards. We had just pulled up at a light as it was turning red and I reached back to fix my shirt when off we went again! And no....I was not holding on and ready for it! My feet shot up in the air and I barely was able to grab hold of Gene before I fell to the asphalt! It was a little scary, but then we were both laughing about it. We hung out at their house for a little bit talking about the trip and discussing what things we wanted to do. We had decided to meet in Greenland at Tobo's at 6:00 and leave from there. So....that's what we did!

We made several stops throughout the day Sunday so it wasn't bad at all. It was cloudy and yucky looking all day, and we were so afraid we were going to get rained on. The temperature was actually perfect though, and Jennie and I wore our rain jackets pretty much the whole way. We did get sprinkled on once but when you're driving 70 mph down the interstate it's hard to feel it! We stopped in Sallisaw and ate breakfast, and my rear was already sore by the time we made it there. I was afraid I was in for a world of trouble!! However, we usually didn't ride for more than about 50-70 miles at any given time and we'd stop again, so about every hour to hour and a half we'd take a break and after I walked around for a few minutes I was good to go again. You just kinda start to go numb after a while because you don't have any room to move around! We ended up making it to Amarillo at about 6:00 that evening.

Steve had started talking about trying to find a campsite and Jennie and just looked at each other like "we are tired, hot, and sore...we want a shower and a bed!!!" So...we all then came to the decision that we would find a room and soak up some air conditioning. Thank the Lord!!! Ha!

After we got settled into our room, we were hungry and decided on eating at the Big Texan, which is the home of the free 72 oz steak! Yes, you get a free 72 oz steak if you can eat it and all the fixings in an hour. Crazy! While we there eating there was a guy trying to do it....he failed!! Our food was really good though. After dinner, we went back to the motel, took showers and crashed! We were exhausted.

The next morning we ate breakfast, loaded up, and headed to the Cadillac Ranch! Actually, we stopped at Wal-Mart and bought some spray paint so we could grafitti the Cadillacs!! It was really windy, so we had to be careful not to get it on us. The picture I posted below is of Gene and I in front of it, but you can't see the cars.

Steve was having some issues with the mufflers on his bike. By the time we made it into Amarillo, he had lost the baffles that go inside his mufflers so his bike was really loud and was starting to run a little funny. After we left Cadillac Ranch we went to Tripp's Harley Davidson dealership to see if they could fix Steve's bike. Long story short, all the mechanic guys were jerks and not willing to help us. They ended up selling us some take-off mufflers to do a temporary fix, but Gene and Steve had to change them out back behind their shop. It was a mess, but it just added to the adventure!! We ate lunch at Olive Garden once he got the bike fixed, and then headed out to the Paulo Duro Canyon in Canyon, TX (just south of Amarillo).

It was gorgeous, but it was HOT!! We stopped at the lookout first and you could see across and down into almost the whole thing. It was really neat. Then we decided to drive down into it, because you can tour it in your own vehicle and it's a 16 mile round trip. It was hotter than Haites down there!! We could hardly breathe because the air was so hot. We didn't waste much time down in there and we got the heck out of there!

After the canyon we headed back to get on 66. Once we caught up to it, we travelled through some old towns in OK. I'll spare you all the details and stops because it would take you and I both forever to make it through! We did stop in Erick, OK, which is where Roger Miller is from. It was about 8:00 Monday night when we stopped in Erick and we had originally stopped to find a place to eat but stumbled across the Roger Miller Museum. Gene had gone to their police station (literally a metal shed) to ask about a diner or cafe to eat at and Steve, Jennie, and I were walking downtown just looking at things. We saw the museum, but it was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. A lady stopped in front of us and asked if we were wanting to see the museum. We told her sure, and she told us to just hold on a minute and she would go grab the keys from her house!! No joke, that woman could not have been gone for any longer than 7 minutes when she was back with the keys and giving us a tour!! She was such a sweet lady, and knew a lot about Roger Miller. She didn't even charge us the fee to take the tour. It was awesome!!

After the museum we drove on to Elk City, OK, which is actually where Steve is from and grew up. It was already after 10 by the time we made it into town and were looking for a place to eat dinner still. We decided on Denny's....mainly because it was the only thing open that late!! Steve called his son, Nathan, to see if he was in town because he still lives in Elk City. Nathan ended up meeting us up there, and Gene had gone next door to check on a room but every room in the town was full, because all the oil crews were in town (it's a huge oil town). So, Nathan offered to let us stay at his house! We saved some money that night...thanks Nathan!! We took showers after we made it there and crashed once again!

The next morning we ate breakfast and visited the Route 66 Museum in town. It was really neat and they had part of it set up like the way the town used to be in the "old days". After we saw the whole museum, we headed out. Our next stop was in Clinton, OK where there's another Route 66 Museum, so we stopped in and checked that one out. It was neat, because it was set up differently than the one in Elk City. We did a tour of it, then headed out of Clinton.

This was all on Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday evening after leaving Clinton we jumped back onto 66 and just enjoyed the scenery! We stopped in Yukon, which is the home of Garth Brooks, and ate dinner at a neat restaurant that had pretty good food. After dinner we went in search of a room. We checked a couple that were close to the interstate and they were all full. Our best option was going to be driving on into Oklahoma City, which was only about 20 miles further east. So, we hopped on and rode on! We ended up finding a room, and settle in again. Notice...still no camping!! Love good running water, electricity, and a soft comfy bed!

Wednesday morning we got up and ate breakfast then headed to the Oklahoma City Memorial. If you have never visited it, you must. It's worth the 4 hour drive from NW Arkansas just to see it. It was so incredibly moving and also very heart breaking. We spent almost 2 hours just seeing everything.

After the Memorial, we met Steve's other son, Steve Jr. for lunch at Toby Keith's Bar & Grill! Steve Jr. lives and works in OK City, so it was cool that we got to meet him and they got to spend some time together. Steve Jr. bought our lunch with his company credit card. It was a "business lunch"!! Thanks Halliburton!! The food was excellent, and they actually have a fried bologna sandwich on their menu. How funny is that?!?! Think maybe we're in the South? Ha! Steve ordered it and said it was really good.

After lunch, we visited the National Cowboy Museum, and it was really neat also. It was beautiful inside there and we got to see a lot of cool things. We visited our fair share of museums throughout the week! For dinner that night we ate at a place called Trappers, and it was really good too. It's a cajun style restaurant and they're specialty is alligator.....yuck! Needless to say, that is NOT what I got! The food was good though.

After dinner we went over to Steve Jr.'s house to visit for a while. We got to meet his wife, Mandy, and their sweet baby girl, Danee! She was born in May, and the most precious little thing (except for my sweet girl of course!). We stayed and talked for quite a while until we were all so sleepy we could hardly hold a conversation, so we headed back to the rooms. We crashed for the night after a hot shower!

That pretty much sums up Sun - Wed so I'm gonna take a break now, and I'll wrap up the end of the week in a later post! It's been a long day, so I'm headed to bed now.

Good Night!

Taylor

P.S. - The picture below is of Steve, Jennie, myself, & Gene in front of the Big Texan in Amarillo. You can tell by looking at all of us that we were so tired!