Looking Back: Part 3- The Year of Engagement

Okay so we were now engaged but I had to tell my Daddy! Yikes! I was such a Daddy's girl and I had no idea how he was going to take this so I have to admit that I was shaking in my shoes. I know that I had told him about David and I had told him about my experience so he was expecting eventually but I knew that he was not expecting it this soon. So I call him up and ask if it was okay to bring David home with me. The catch was that we would have to bring him back to Shreveport because he didn't have a car yet. So Daddy said yes and I brought David home to meet the family. Oh boy, was that an experience. Daddy was very nice and he asked if we would please give him a year and of course I said yes(being the total Daddy's girl that I am). David on the other hand would have preferred a shorter engagement period but hey he had to wait. Don't they say that "good things come to those who wait". So we were engaged for the next year. It was a time of learning and growth and much patience from both of us. David seemed to have doubts quite a lot. But to be fair to him I didn't let him take me out on real dates very often. I was very engrossed in school and didn't do anything except for on weekends and Daddy had told me that he wanted me home on weekend because all he had was one year left. Needless to say I kind of felt stuck in between the two men that I loved the most but since I was 19 and still felt that it was very important to give Daddy what he wanted ....... I went home almost every weekend. I brought David with me a lot but this still was not the kind of dating he was expecting. Now .... that does not mean we didn't spend a lot of time together, before any of you start thinking my wonderfull Daddy was weird let me tell you that he paid for David's first year of college at NSU (It was a loan that we paid back when we took over the payments of my student loan). He did this so that David and I could be together more. He thought that we were dating during the week. We did get together a lot and ate almost every meal together I felt like it was awesome and loved every minute of it!!!! However I think David would have enjoyed more real dates that consisted of going out adn not just going on walks around campus and talking alot. It was wonderful and we grew a lot. There was a small group of LDS students at NSU and we had a lot of wonderful moments. David was our resident priesthood holder and gave many blessings and pep talks throughout that year. It was Awesome and what didn't kill David made him stronger LOL... to be cont.

Ryan's Home!!!!!

Well after two long years we now have my very dear little brother home from his mission!!!! It was a day that was well worth the wait but we are all glad that the waiting is over. We are all so proud of his achievements and we know that he was where the Lord wanted him at the time. For those of you who do not know which I really don't think it could be many, my little brother was on his mission in Michigan. Poor thing he was verrry cold in the winter. Yikes Any way here are some of the pictures that I took. I took a whole lot more but these are the ones that I wanted to share. As you can see Momma was so excited that Ryan was finally going to be back. She could seem to stop smiling and she just glowed!

Momma wanted to have a huge group there to greet Ryan when he got off the plane and she asked David to make a banner. Of course David said two was better than one and made two. Momma also got some balloons and filled them with helium. Oh what fun. We were almost all there. Momma and Russell, Ray and Chelle and their kids Tori and Wesley (Trey was in VA and Riley had to work), Me and David and all of ours, Ron and Theresa with Reighn and Becky, Sandy (Jake was off shore), We also had a lot of awesome friends there, Sis Laughlin, Dawn TeSam and her girls, Kimberly, Natalie and Rachal, Shannan, Jonathan, and Jessica and Daniel Curiel, Brother and Sister Pinegar and their adopted daughter Tiffany, and the Funderburks. It was awesome to have sooooo many people there to welcome Ryan home but I think we did overwhelm him a little.

Momma was there with a big hug when he first got off the plane!!

And of course it lasted a while since she hadn't been able to hug him for two years!!!

Ryan and Momma

The whole family minus four! We missed you Jake, Trey, Stephanie, and Riley!

After we left the airport we all went to Ryan's Family Steak House and ate dinner. We took up one of the whole back party area's. We ran the poor waitress off her feet. It was a lot of fun and wonderful to be able to sit and be together. All of my siblings were there Ahhhhh It is a great feeling. I love you Ryan and am glad that you are back. ( the picture above is of Ryan and Jonathan Laughlin his life long friend)

Looking Back- Part 2 Getting Engaged!

Okay so I left off with giving my Daddy a heart attack. HeHeHe Anyway, David and I started calling each other and talked for long periods of time. It was great fun. Our first Date was May 29, 1992 I remember the exact date because it was his birthday. I drove 2 hours to see him and went to a dance at his stake. It was great fun, after the dance we walked to McDonald's for dinner. When it was time to go we didn't want to leave and it took us a while to say goodbye. I had got into my car and started searching for my keys. David was standing outside and laughing at me it took me a while to realize why he was laughing the darn keys were still in the door where I had stuck them to unlock the car. LOL Well before I left David stuck his head in through the window and gave me a quick kiss (aww how sweet our first kiss).
We continued to talk to one another on the phone and had a wonderful time getting to know one another. The next time we got to see each other was at the YSA conference held at Northwestern. It was a very important time in our little life. We spent sooo much time together talking and laughing and just plain enjoying one anther's company. Ahhh the memories. Anyway, we went to one of the dances and of course we danced together. While we were dancing David decided to ask me some questions Yeah it was like an are you good enough to be my wife interview Hehehe. So what were the questions? First he asked me what I felt about kissing!!!!! Okay this sounded like one of those "you can't win" questions and I really didn't want to tell him that I had always felt that the first really majorly awesome kiss should be across the alter at the temple (especially since I had already messed up a little on that goal) so I threw the question back at him and said what do you think about it. I was amazed when he said the same thing. Yeah the Lord knew who to put together. It was great. So we continue to dance and then he asks me this question, are you ready for this, boy did this take guts. Okay already here's the question. He asked me if I had ever thought that he might not be The One and I said no. It was automatic because by then I really knew that he was the one that I was going to marry. I didn't know when or how I just knew it was going to happen. He asked me how I knew that and I told him that I would tell him in a couple of months. There was nooooo way that I was going to tell him about my awesome spiritual experience while standing in the middle of a whole bunch of people dancing and I felt we needed to have some more time to get to know each other better before I told him. So we left it at that. I had a great time and we went out to a table and had a mini scripture study with each other man was I smitten. He was just what I wanted, spiritual and handsome. Cool So we stayed up really late and were tired the next day. We missed getting to ride the boat that was scheduled for that day but still had a great time. We walked back to campus and while we were walking and were really close to our spot David told me about his experience the day we had met. Now It is not quite as romantic as mine. He wasn't praying, driving or anything. He was washing his hands after using the restroom and looking in the mirror and thought "I just met my wife." Yeah that's kind of odd but hey you can't question the spirit. So after he told me his experience I felt the spirit very strongly, you know the feeling of love and comfort and I felt like I just had to tell him about my experience. So I did and I think I really blew his mind because now he really knew what we were feeling was heading in a direction that was new territory. So we go to the rest of our meetings and then we go back to our table to pray and read scriptures, sooo cool I really loved that about him. Anyway while we were there David sat for a very long time quietly and then he asked me if I knew what most people would do at this point (he was really into those leading questions, but Hey I knew how to handle them I just sent them right back to him LOL) He said that most people would get engaged! Oh my! Well then he asked me to pray with him. David always has has a hard time making decisions so I begin to pray with him and he asked me to keep on praying when the verbal prayer was over so that is just what I did. While I was praying David asked me what I was doing. Okay so he asked me to pray and not to stop so that is what I did and then he wants to know what I'm doing come on. So I just said I'm still praying. Aww it was soooooo sweet. David pulls me up to where he was and then he looks into my eyes. I can't tell you what that was like but I'm going to try. It was like looking into a window and seeing all the happy things that would happen between us. It was like Christmas morning It was awesome! Then finally David looks me deep in the eyes and asks me to marry him! Yay I was so excited and yet scarred and all sorts of feelings all rolled into one and I said yes!! After knowing each other for only three weeks we were engaged. Oh boy how am I going to tell Daddy this!!!! To be continued

Looking Back - Part 1 The First Day

Wow! Yesterday David turned 40 and I sit and think where did the time go. So with this thought in mind I think I will go back in time to 1992. It is the year that David and I met. We met at a Young Single Adult Activity at my home stake (for those of you who are not members of the LDS church this is a graphical area of the church) Anyway, I was the YSA leader in my area and David had the same calling in his area so we were destined to meet. If we go back a little farther when I was set apart (blessed) to do this calling I was told that I would meet my future companion through my calling and I believed it with all my heart. So, I met David and I have to say that he was a skinny guy wearing maroon suspenders and me well I was wearing shorts with an open wound up and down my leg (the wound was caused by riding a horse with out the knowledge necessary to get the horse to do what I wanted, it decided to go up a hill and my leg was scraped up a metal fence post) if I covered the wound with anything it would stick and cause me great pain. One of his first thoughts about me was that he sure hoped that whoever married me would realize that the scar wouldn't be there in the here after LOL. I'm happy to say that you can barely see it now and I didn't even have to die to make it go away. Opps I'm rambling a little but this is part of our beginning. David found out that I was the YSA representative and introduced himself to me and then asked me to dance. We danced the whole night and had a really great time. David even sang me his raindrop song and I quoted one of my poems. It was great and I was really excited about meeting someone that was a member of the church that I belong to. When I left I had an hour drive home and I prayed as I was driving, it was a common practice of mine to pray in my car. I had to sit still and it kept my mind occupied while I was alone. As I was praying I decided to ask Heavenly Father for some Divine intervention and get David to ask me out. Hey I didn't date much because I choose not to date outside of my religion so this made a lot of sense. As I was praying I received a very special answer to my prayers and I knew that all would be okay. In fact I went home and woke my Daddy and told him that I had just met the man I was going to marry!! Poor Daddy, what a way to wake up. LoL To be continued

Wonderful Weekend!!

This past weekend we were able to spend some good quality time with Mom and Paul. They invited us to an Appleseed event. (For those of you who dont' know what this is here is a link to their website http://www.appleseedinfo.org/ )It was a wonderful time of learning about our nations history and learning how to shoot rifles. We all really had a great time. We learned about the first three strikes that started the Revolutionary War. One of the things that was said that really stuck in my mind was how the Battle of Lexington was fought in Concord by the men of Atkin(I think this was the name, it was a town close by who came to help when they saw that there was a problem.) I think that Paul really looked the part. Mom said that she had made him a poet shirt. I bet that would have really looked cute! Krystal really loves her Grandpa, isn't she precious. :)

I'm not sure how this was the only picture of Mom that was taken all weekend. However I just love it. It definitely shows of her sparkling personality. Hehehe


I don't think that the girls were impressed with the shower facilities. LOL However it was a way to get clean so that they could start all over on getting dirty.

Alecia had to strike a pose when she noticed me with the camera.

Grandma set up this shelter which turned out to be a wonderful thing as it sure did rain a lot. I however am not complaining since the rain is what made the temperature bearable.

David enjoyed shooting! However he told me that he felt muscles that he hadn't felt in a very long time. LOL
Alecia shot too, but I don't have pictures of her shooting because she was my photographer out on the shooting range. Dangit I bet that would have been cute and I didn't realize it until it was too late to rectify the situation.

Brandon shot all three days and really enjoyed himself. Doesn't he just look sooo cute.

Here is a picture of David and Brandon shootingKatie is our little Annie Oakley. She stayed the whole time and really learned a lot. She struggled the first day but thanks to Grandpa and an instructor name Luis she was able to hit the target on Days 2 and 3. She really learned to follow the instructions well. I think she is very adorable. Krystal decided not to shoot, but she had a lot of fun and she was my big helper. I had her taking the little ones to the restroom(that was nasty it was one of those portable things and they didn't empty it UGGG)Alecia's tent had Bethany and Jessica in it and they decided to be bugs for the weekend. Bethany chose to be a dragonfly and here she is with her antennae. :)She also decided that she wanted to shoot after Jared and Jessica did so here she is with Grandpa learning how to shoot.Jared was the first of the littlest ones to decide to shoot. He just wanted to go do it so Grandpa took him over and helped him. He had a blast!!Jessica had Grandpa help her to shoot also. I just love these pictures. Grandpa was soo patient and helped each one of them!I have no idea what she was thinking here but I just love my little warrior princess! This is a picture of the bullet that Jessica shot into the target!!!!

Finally at the end everyone climbed the hill and held up the flag. It's not the best picture but i just love it! Thank you so much Mom and Paul for inviting us. It was a great time to spend together learning and playing.

Jessica's Hair Disaster!

Those of you who have known our family for a while know that we have had our share of hair disasters. Bethany being the worst. We have now had (hopefully) our final one. I really had thought that Jessica was going to be the one that didn't do a masterful job cutting her hair. However, I guess she was feeling left out because Saturday she did a hatchet job on her own hair. I called David and told him what she had done and he asked if it was better than Nair I said Marginally of course I was being a little dramatic because it is waaay better but this is the little girl that almost cried when we got a trim. Weeellll let me show you what she did. Needless to say we had to make a quick trip to the Salon where the beautician did her best to salvage a little bit. Not much to work with.And here is the end results. It looks barely acceptable if she wears a head band, but alas what 5 year old is going to keep one of those on right. Sigh O well its times like these that ya just gotta laugh because if you don't you might want to cry.

Miracles and blessings!

Sometimes in every life there is a chance to look toward Heaven and thank our Father for the miracle of life, love and happiness. Yesterday was one of those days for me. My dear husband has a heart problem. One that can be taken care of with medications but we don't have insurance and he doesn't like the side effects so we haven't been buying it. He called me yesterday at 5pm. and asked me to come to the shop because he was having some heart problems. I drove over there immediately and then had to drop Katie off at the house before I could take him to the hospital. I drove through 5 o'clock traffic worried about him but not hysterical, this had happened before and he looked okay so in my mind I was telling myself he was just be hypochondriacal. I didn't want it to be anything major. I dropped him off and parked the car and then went in to see how things were going. The nurses had put him in a wheel chair and then they took him back. I still hadn't fully come to the understanding that this was serious. When I went back after getting the paperwork I found him in a room with about 6 doctors and nurses and they had him taped up to all sorts of machines. The scary one was the one that was monitoring his heart rate. It was up over 200!!!!!! They asked him to bare down like a bowl movement because this sometimes makes the heart rate go back to normal but it wasn't working it only made his heart rate go up I saw it at 250 and the nurse said that it had gone up to 270. I was panicking and not doing so great. What can I say I kept thinking he better not die in front of me I don't think I can handle that. I kept a small prayer of HELP!! running through my mind and the doctors gave him some kind of meds to bring his heart rate down, the first dose didn't help and then they gave him a second with two shot at the same time. Heavenly Father answered my prayers and finally David heart rate came back down and was normal. I don't think I have ever been so worried in my life. This is not the first time this has happened to him but it is the first time that I have seen it and been witness to just how scary this can get. He has super ventricular tacnacardia with a microvalve prolapse, lots of big words to mean that his heart has a short circuit and can start beating really fast and doesn't stop itself. I will have to make sure he goes to see a cardiologist which is hard since we do not have insurance but I am not willing to loose him to this when there is a pill that he can take daily to keep it from happening.

I soooo love my dear sweet husband and I am thankful that it was not his time to go. I don't even want to imagine life without his love and companionship with me everyday. So go home and kiss your sweetie and let them know that they are the world to you because you never know what can happen and say a prayer or two for them. May God bless you all as I have been blessed.