Let me just get you caught up...

Wow am I really behind on my blogging! So for-warning this may be a long post...

First off, my great aunt past away two weeks ago tomorrow. She was the last of 9 children to go. She and my grandfather (mom's dad) were brother and sister and she was just the sweetest lady you would ever meet. The story of how she passed is so amazing. You're probably like what in the world, but it was really neat.

A brief story:

She had been in the hospital for 4 weeks and ended up moving over to a hospice care facility. First of all it was a Sunday, and it was a beautiful/perfect day outside and the power went off there...random. Well she was having lung problems and was on a machine. So to help her breath better they wheeled her bed over to the open window.

Now Aunt Maxine LOVED birds. When they wheeled her to the window there were birds right by her window just chirpin away, very loudly. There was so much family in the room that there was barely any standing room. She looked at her oldest daughter and was holding her hand and said,"There is a time when there is no more time." She looked at her straight in the eyes and said,"I'll be alright." She then took her last breath and went to be with Jesus, her husband and my grandpa.

Someone mentioned that those birds may have been her angels coming to get her. Isn't that such a cool thought to think that she just may have seen angels right there by her window. It just gives me chills to think about...so awesome!

Sweet Aunt Maxine

So my mom, Sterling and I loaded up and went to Searcy that Wednesday for the funeral. While we were there we went to see one of my best friends, Celina. They just had a baby girl, Eden, three months ago and I wanted to see her! She's a doll baby.

Sterling is so intrigued by babies right now. He will stop what he is doing and go look (or should I say stare) at the baby instead of playing.

"Is she gonna do anything?!"
Sterling looks huge compared to her! But he's still my baby! :)

When I got home (we left here at 8:30 A.M. and I didn't get home until 11:30 P.M.) I was EXHAUSTED!!!

Let me just tell you that I have such an awesome husband! I came home and he had the house cleaned up, dishes done, laundry going, and had these roses sitting there for me. Isn't he a sweetheart! (this is a very rare/never occurring thing though, so I can't get used to it! ha)

Ok fast forward 4 days to Memorial Day weekend.

Saturday night our good friends, Brad and Maria, had some people over for a little party. We had so much fun. We enjoyed getting to know new people and hanging out with friends. They are such sweet people and are so glad we have friends like them. Heath and Brad are like two peas in a pod, get them together and there is going to be t-r-o-u-b-l-e! :)

Like a bad blogger, I didn't get any pictures Saturday night. So this is a picture from the hog game this past fall.

Sunday night, Shane and Rachel had just our families over to hang out. We had a blast and so did Sterling. He got to hang out and play with his cousins all night...couldn't beat that! He adores his cousins. And once again, I forgot my camera so I stole these pictures from Rachel

Sterling and Claire

All of the Brown boy cousins

Can't go wrong with bubbles!

Sterling took drinks out for all the kids. I don't know if you can tell but his hair is soaked and it's not from water. This child sweats even when it's 50 degrees outside!

Silly boy!

Monday was spent in the yard and getting caught up on things that needed to be done. OH, AND we spent our Memorial Day evening going to all the stores trying to find the best deal on a new refrigerator. Yep, the one we have is starting crap out. Sunday night the compressor wouldn't kick on and stuff was starting to get thawed out and there was water running all down the sides on the inside. Well, as soon as we left for Rachel's it kicked back on. So, I think we are going to be investing in a new refrigerator pretty soon.

But it's time has come because this fridge is literally, as old as I am. Heath's parents bought it about the time the twins turned two!! It has lasted this long so I can't complain! When you open the door, it pops real loud and sags down...know why that is? Heath and Shane used to open the door, climb the shelves and swing on the door. Now could you imagine that with these sweet little faces...naw, never! LOL!

What's scary is that our sons are just like them so far! :)

"Straight Right"

...ever heard of it?


Neither had I until tonight.


Here's the story:


We went to Wal-Mart after church and while Heath was checking out I went to the "red box" to get us a movie. (if you have never heard of the red box at Wal-Mart....let me just tell you it's a genius idea that someone has come up with. You get a movie, new releases even, for $1!! It's only for one night, but they only charge you a dollar if it's late, so it's still cheaper than going somewhere else. AND you can get it at any Wal-Mart and bring them back to any of them also.)

So, I'm standing there going through the movies (looking for "P.S. I LOVE YOU" and they were out...go figure!) on the screen and some guy comes up behind me and says, "Get Straight Right. It's a good movie. Go click on it and look at it."


I turn around quickly thinking I would find someone I knew trying to be funny or something. Not such the case. It was some random guy I had never seen before. I turn right back around thinking it's just some guy trying to flirt or something. I kind of just laughed and kept looking. Well I came across the page that the movie was on. He says, "There it is. Click on it. Get it, it's really good."


So I click on it and I give him a really strange look. I said, "I don't like movies like this. Let me guess, it's about boxing?? I really don't like movies like that,sorry. Why do you want me to get it so bad?"


He just smiled and said,"Well, that's me."


What? No way. I'm standing here with a movie star. A movie star just came up to me. And I just told him I didn't like the kind of movie he made. How rude was that! I felt/feel bad!


So after some small talk I find out that he is from L.A. and moved out here because he had kids and they didn't want to raise them in L.A. (which I highly admire them for!) and they came to Bentonville and opened their own gym. He was really nice and didn't seem conceded at all.


It was just a really strange occurrence that will probably never happen to me again. But I thought it was pretty neat. (even though it's not a huge movie, it's still a movie that you can rent from Wal-Mart and I'm sure the movie stores!)

This is him, Brent Smith.

"FRIDGE"

I thought this was cute and funny. We were eating breakfast and I was doing something else but was close enough by him that I could hear what he was saying. I looked over at one point when I heard him say,"...and this is Ms. Nita, and this is me, and Miss Jennifer is right here."

So apparently he was playing "school" in his little mind because those are his teachers from Sonshine School. I got a kick out of it because I've never seen him do that before. His teacher makes them line up all the time, so he was making them line up I guess!

So I guess he had enough of playing "school" because he then switched to a much more "boyish" play...his "FRIDGE" (a.k.a. "bridge")

You can just imagine what he's thinking in this picture! :)

"Let's go fly a kite..."

Monday was a windy day...perfect for flying a kite. Something Sterling has never done before. He was doing great for a long time. So cute...but kind of clueless as to what he was actually doing, I think. Our neighbors got Sterling a kite along with their kids...they all had a blast...

Hangin on tight!!... until....

Yeah, he went to hand me the string and the wind was so heavy and the tension was so tight, that it just took off over the houses and wrapped itself up on the power lines down the street. It was so funny because he was looking around dumbfounded! Funny thing is, it stayed up in the air flying for about 3 more hours. Too funny!

eyes wide shut...

Tell me this wouldn't absolutely freak you out...

This is when they started to shut

Yes, he is fast ASLEEP!!!! He was sick this weekend and was just as puny as could be. Well I came in from outside and this is what I saw on the couch. A pale man with his mouth and eyes open. Please tell me this wouldn't freak you out! I am surely not the only one!

LOVE YOU BABE!!!

**He's gonna kill me!!** he he :)

oink oink and a little bit of water...

This weekend Heath's old boss had a big pig roast that he invited us to at his house. We went because they throw great parties plus we hadn't hung out with them in forever and they are some fun people! They actually bought a huge pig and soaked it in a kiddie pool (and even then it was hanging out the sides...I'm telling you this thing was monstrous!) and then roasted it over a fire pit in his backyard. It was some really good pork, but I'm so glad I ate it before I saw it! He also had pictures of the whole process from the soaking to the roasting playing as a slide show on a computer for all of us to see...gross! Here he is when it was all said and done.... poor thing!

So Sterling and I started getting a little bored because we didn't bring our swimsuits (yeah, like I was EVER going to bring mine in the first place!) and didn't know very many people. So this is how we entertained ourselves when the DJ wasn't playing a song that we liked!

He's tryin to do a thumbs up cause he thinks he's Mr. Cool with Daddy's shades on!

>

Apparently one of us didn't get the memo of what kind of picture we were going to do!

Here is what Sterling did after his nap today....

look at that gut!

Our neighbors had the sprinkler out for their little girl and Sterling joined in the fun. He had a blast. I can't believe it's that season again!!

does it really hurt your eyes??

Is it true what your mom always told you? "If you sit too close to the tv it will hurt your eyes."

I think when you have to tilt your head up to watch the tv, you might just be sitting too close...Sterling.

On another note, we planted our garden about two weeks ago. It has already grown since this picture.

on your left, front to back:

yellow bell pepper

yellow crook neck squash (the next two)

middle row, front to back:

carrot seeds

red bell pepper

last row, front to back,

better boy tomato

green bell pepper

yellow crookneck squash

Yummy! I can't wait til it starts to produce!

a wonderful Mother's Day

I had such a wonderful Mother's Day this year! Heath gave this to me on Saturday night. Who could ask for a better gift than this...

I finally got my diamond wedding band. Heath says this is an anniversary/Mother's Day gift. I consider it both as well! I'm lovin it and can't quit looking at my finger! (just want to put a plug in for Kay Jewelers, they are wonderful to work with!)



I woke up Sunday morning to Sterling bringing this in to me....

Pretty cool huh! Sterling picked it out of two choices...the other choice was an ipod docking station. Hmmm...which one would you choose?? :)

Sterling made this for me in his Bible class! How sweet!

After church all of us (21 people) went out to eat at Shoguns. Heath and I had never been there before because we don't like that kind of food, but we enjoyed ourselves at least. Especially the show and being with everyone!

Before we went to Shoguns though we had appetizers at Keith and Becky's. Here are the cousins eating (Caiden was asleep on the couch) (I pirated these from my sister-in-law...thanks Rachel!)

Sterling, Claire, Owen (doesn't want his pic taken) and Clayton

There we go Owen! What a cutie!

Sterling and his oldest cousin, Clayton, waiting to be seated...oh, and looking at the fish!
Still waiting, but this time he has something to play with! But he actually learned to pick his food up and eat it!

Sterling thinks this show is pretty cool! Clayton, not so much!
Lost in thought!
You can't tell me they don't look alike! :)

It's our turn for the show!
the onion volcano...can you see the flame coming out?

Yeah, I don't know how they do it!

After we ate lunch Heath put Sterling down for a nap (he was on Sterling duty the whole day. That is what we do for each other on "our" days) and helped me plant the rest of my flowers. (one of my favorite things to do) Then we went to eat at MarketPlace Express for dinner. (my all time favorite place to eat) When I go there I always get the chicken caesar salad. Get this...I go to order my usual and they tell me they don't have that anymore!!

WHAT!?!?!

After I picked my jaw up off the floor, "Are you kidding me" is all I could get out of my mouth. I was so disappointed and asked if there was a number I could call to maybe get it back on the menu. A manager comes over and tells me that they rotate it in and out of their menu and it will most likely be back in the fall. Well that doesn't help me now does it! He offered us a free appetizer...and you better believe we took it! :) The rest of the night went great. Over all, I had such a wonderful Mother's Day!

My mom and me.

Thank you for bringing me into this world! If it wasn't for you I wouldn't be here and would never have met Heath and there wouldn't be the little joy in my life, Sterling! Thank you for always being there for me and raising me right. You are such a wonderful mother and don't know what I would do without you! You are such a strong Christian woman and I thank you for that! Thank you for everything you do for us as well...we love you!!

Heath and his mom, Becky!

I want to tell you thank you, for bringing my wonderful husband into this world and raising him to be an awesome Christian man. Also, thank you for being such a wonderful mother-in-law...the best ever! You are such a wonderful example to us. We appreciate everything you do for us as well...you're amazing! We love you!

never a dull moment!

Does everybody know how FREAKED out I am of tornadoes/storms...well let me just tell you, I am petrified of them. (and then some)

So, last night (Saturday) we were headed to Heath's brother's house for a little get-together. We had NO CLUE that there was supposed to be severe weather. When we pulled into their driveway it looked nasty outside. When we went in they had the weather on TV. There were tornados headed right towards us from all directions pretty much.

Here's where you insert the part where I start freaking out.

The sirens start going off outside, and I told Heath that I wanted to leave right then to go to his dad's Speede Lube. (it's like 3-4 miles from their house) So we leave and head over there. His parents and grandparents were headed there as well. (it has the pit where they change oil underground so that is where we would be)

No joke, the whole way over there, I was literally holding my mouth because I felt like I was going to lose what little food I had in my stomach because I was stressing so bad. I think if someone were to have taken my blood pressure last night during the whole mess, it probably would have been hospital worthy.

Have you gotten the idea of how scared I am of tornadoes yet?

So we are at Speede Lube pretty much just outside of the major part of the storms, but definitely not out of the woods. Meanwhile, back at Shane's (Heath's brother, which is only a few miles from where we are at this point) house this is what is going on...

This was taken from the upstairs window of their house!!!!

You better believe someone would have been taking me to a hospital if I would have seen this! It makes my heart race just looking at it!

The whole ordeal took about and hour and a half, but everyone was safe and sound when we returned to the party. THANK YOU LORD!!!

OH!! I almost forgot about this.

So, when we got back Sterling and the kids went outside to play. All of a sudden someone says, "um Lane, Sterling has his pants off. OH, AND his diaper!!"

I run to the door just as Sterling was opening it handing me his pull up and shorts telling me,"Mommy I have to pee-pee." Then he turns around and heads to the grass, faces everyone and starts PEEING!!!! Of course, everyone saw the whole thing and are just cracking up laughing. Meanwhile I am absolutely MORTIFIED because I don't even know most of these people.

After he is done doing his business he just turns around and starts to go play on the jungle gym like nothing ever happened.

STERLING!!!

I wish I could have got a picture or video of the whole thing because that would be some good stuff to use when he gets older! he-he :) Never a dull moment!!