Last Weekend!

Jarred and I had a great weekend! My family came to town and we had a great visit! Here are some highlights!

1. Friday night we went on a DATE before my parents arrived! Jarred took me to Panera Bread (one of my all time favorites and a place I don't get to very often b/c we live so far away now!!) then to Orange Leaf for frozen yogurt! YUM!

2. Mom and Dad arrived and we planned our Saturday (heading to the HOGS game!)

3. We pulled out of the driveway at 7:15 AM and hit the road for Fayetteville...we got to watch the basketball team scrimmage, then went to tailgate w/ some folks from Jarred's work. They teamed up with some other businesses from Sheridan and had it catered! We had fajitas and chips and salsa, YUM!!

4. The HOGS played great and had the lead for MOST of the game...the crowd was FANTASTIC...loudest I've ever heard the crowd at that stadium. We were on our feet the ENTIRE game. When we scored on our first drive of the game the place went NUTS!! I truly thought we were gonna pull it out but we threw it away during the last minutes (literally!!). It was heartbreaking! Jarred and I stood frozen in place after it was over- in SHOCK! We almost beat the #1 team in the nation...way to go HOGS for putting up a good fight...I'm SO SAD we couldn't pull it out!!

5. The drive home we stuck GLEE into the DVD player and Mom and I watched (she needed to catch up from last season) and made the drive home go faster! I wasn't feeling GREAT so I fell asleep in Mom's lap and that made the drive go even FASTER!

6. My brothers and my sister in law came over Saturday night to spend the night and go to church with us on Sunday. I LOVE having my entire family together. We missed having Sierra with us but had a great time. We went to Moe's after class and then back to the house to play with the dogs, relax, look at houses (for my brother and his wife), and finish up some projects around my house (new air filters, sealing the door frames, replacing light bulbs, etc.). Mom and Dad had to head home around 3:00.

7. After church last night we all went to Wal-Mart to buy some meat to grill for dinner. My youngest brother, Jay, grilled us all some fabulous steaks and we had a GREAT healthy meal! I made mashed sweet potatoes and Kaitlin made a big salad to go with the steaks! It was a fun time. Jay spent the night with us again b/c my brothers are starting their first job today. They have started a business (Skinner Brothers) and hopefully it's going to take off for them. They can do landscaping, sprinkler systems, home repairs and projects, decks, etc...they do GREAT work and they are HARD workers!! You should give them a call if you're interested in hiring them! They've both been doing landscaping/sprinkler systems since they were little! Call 501-593-9844 for a quote today!!

Well, that's all for now! Have a fun week!

~Jennifer

Labor Day 2010

This past Labor Day we had our first Butterworth Family Reunion! This is my mom's side of the family and for some reason we've just never had a big family trip or anything on that side of the family. My Dad's side goes to the beach EVERY summer. So, we decided it was time for a change and that we'd all like to start getting together every year! This year my mom took the lead on picking the place and making all the arrangements! She did an excellent job. We went to Smith Lake in Cullman, AL (or maybe outside of Cullman, AL) and stayed at a Lake House that is owned by a family from Mom and Dad's church. It's called A Slough of Fun if you ever want to check it out for yourselves! See the pictures below. It was really nice and sleeps about 12-14 comfortably...My Mimi (mom's mom) graciously paid for the accommodations and told us that her only requirement would be that we had to do some Good Eatin!! SO...my uncle Chris & aunt Susie took breakfast and dinner on Saturday and I took lunch and my Mom took breakfast and dinner on Sunday and my cousin, Annie took lunch. Let me tell ya...we did some GOOD EATIN! My uncle Chris and my Mom know how to do it! They learned from the best, my Mimi!! The house was right on the lake so we played in the water, some of us went canoeing, we had our church service on Sunday out of the dock (best worship service EVER!!), we read, sat around and solved all the world's problems, played games, and had a fabulous time! We've already decided we'd like to make this a tradition and plan a trip next year! The ball was handed off to Aunt Susie and she's gonna make it happen! All in all it was a great trip and here are some pictures for you too all the fun we had!

My beautiful MimiUncle Chris & Aunt Susie My Dad acting silly as usual! :)Annie doing what she loves most!
Jay & Sierra
Mom & Dad
Uncle Chris & Aunt SusieAll the women, except Mom (she's taking the picture)Butterworth crew minus Chet plus Jordan! Butterworth kids with their momma! Me & Jarred
Skinner crew minus Michael, Kaitlin, Jay, & Sierra plus Mimi!!Butterworth women!All the Butterworth womenButterworth crew!

Mom & Dad
Jones's (Joneses???) No clue- Annie help me out...
Cousins!!!
As you can see I FINALLY remembered my camera and went a little crazy! This isn't even all of my pictures! Enjoy!

~Jennifer

Love My Family

For the past couple months my brother (Michael) and his wife (Kaitlin) have been living with us on the weekdays because my sister in law is working in Little Rock and they haven't been able to sell their house in Searcy. I have LOVED having them around. My brother isn't around as much as Kaitlin (b/c of his job he's gone for a week then home for a week, gone for a week, home a week, etc.- you get the point!). This has been so much fun for me because of several reasons but one because it's given Kaitlin and I a chance to get to know each other better. Kaitlin is extremely sweet and can sometimes be quiet (however, this COULD be because previous times I was with her was when my entire family was together and we pretty much DOMINATE all the talking- Kaitlin- we're very sorry!). Because of the loudness of my family I really didn't have the chance to get to know her on a very personal level! Having her at my house has been fantastic for our relationship. I just adore her and think she's hilarious! It's funny because the more I learn about her the more I realize how much she are Jarred are alike. They are both extremely generous, patient, loving, and never, ever want to be a burden on anyone, so much so that they will go out of their way, inconveniencing themselves just so that no one else is inconvenienced! Not sure if that makes sense but I'm telling you, they are JUST ALIKE!
Having them with us has also been great for Mine and Michael's relationship. As we grow older we get closer and closer and that just warms my heart! I love both of my brothers very much and it's always been my prayer that we'd be great friends as we became adults and have families of our own. So far, that's working out just great! My youngest brother, Jay, is dating a girl (pretty seriously) and I think she's fantastic as well. Kaitlin and I have even planned to have a girls night with her soon. I feel so blessed that my brothers and their significant others want to hang out with me & Jarred. I guess I'm just feeling sentimental today or something but it really is the best thing ever! Jarred and I have wonderful siblings and we are blessed to have great relationships with all of them! Michael and Kaitlin want to eventually move out to Little Rock and I'm SO excited they are going to be close to us! I'm secretly praying Jay will eventually do the same! Sorry Mom! Mom and Dad just need to move out this way too! :)