Remembering 2007!!

I can't believe it's already 2008!! It felt like 2007 just flew by! 2007 was a great year to us! Here are a few memories I have of the year (I'm going through the year w/ my calendar so I don't leave anything out- I write EVERYTHING down!)...

January highlights: Started back up w/ Silver City (the inner city ministry our church supports), Had our first Honeymooner's Class Retreat at Heber Springs, Shelly Dahl had her baby shower at church, and I was able to get a little closer with the girls in my, at that time, 7th grade Platoon group!

February highlights: My Mom, Dad, Mimi, & Papa all got to come to our house and spend the weekend w/ us, we even went up to Fayetteville for an AR/KY basketball game (AR is our team and KY is my Mimi & Papa's favorite team), My college roommate Holli got married!, Jarred got his wisdom teeth pulled out, and last but not least our great friends the Dahl's had their baby, Eric!!

March highlights: This month was great b/c one of my best friends from high school came all the way from Alabama to visit me! Tracie got to meet all my friends...we took her bowling and to Senor Tequila and to Cheeburger Cheeburger! It was a great visit and it was so neat to have someone from home come see what I'm up to in Arkansas! We house sat for the Gilliams at church for the first time-that was great b/c their house is wonderful and it was fun pretending it was ours for a week!! We took our Silver City kids to a Rim Rockers game, went to see my brother play baseball for Harding, had a sleepover w/ my 7th graders, went to many CAC games to see our Platoons kids play, and at the end of the month we went to my home in Alabama to just hang out for a weekend!!

April highlights: In April one of Jarred's really close friends from college, Kevin Staples, came to visit w/ his wife Laura, who I've become friends w/ now and their 2 kids! It was great for us to spend time w/ them and get to know their kids some, they are so GREAT!! We also started our volleyball league at church, helped the Connett's move into their new house, & we went to a Family Life marriage conference w/ the Tappe's, Connett's, & Dasher's in Tulsa, OK! It was a blast and we really enjoyed spending time w/ good friends! I also had what I think is going to be my future sister in law come stay w/ me for a week while Jarred was traveling, she's great!

May highlights: May was a busy month for us. We did a lot of traveling! Jarred got to go to Seattle, WA for a week, we both went to Searcy for Mother's Day, we had our annual family reunion in Texas over Memorial Day and then Jarred and I flew out from Dallas to go to Las Vegas!! It was a spur of the moment trip but it was great! I also got to go to Branson to meet up w/ my college roommate Tina and spend the weekend w/ her and her daughter! That was so much fun and we're hoping to do it again this year! The sad thing that happened this month was that my dog Sydney got heartworms but the good part was that after surgery she was okay and is still rid of them to this day...note to self...don't get your heartguard medicine from Pet Meds online!!!

June highlights: As every month, June was busy too! We started the month with a Girls Sleepover at Sarah Smith's house, our friends, the Bland's had their baby boy!, We went on a camping/floating trip w/ some folks from church for a weekend. That was awesome!! Jarred and I didn't tip over the entire time...I was very happy with that b/c the water was FREEZING!!! Our life group did a birthday party for the Southern Children's Home in Morrilton, I celebrated my 24th birthday, we went to a Travelers baseball game w/ a group of church friends, & I had a pool party/grill out w/ my 7th grade girls!

July highlights: Well we started July by heading to Pensacola Beach w/ my family (we do this every year). We were able to stay this year for 5 days and that's the longest I've been able to stay since I've been in the working world. The rest of my family stays for an entire week but we didn't get to this year, part of our 5 days had to be thrown over a weekend! We had a big Game Night up at church for everyone in our class. I hope we can do that again sometime, those are always fun! We house sat again for the Gilliams- and it was even better this time b/c they have a pool and it was summer time!! Great fun! We got to go to Atlanta w/ the Connett's & the Tappe's for a weekend of shopping, hanging out, & going to a Braves game! That was a very fun trip...thanks to Melea's parents for letting us stay at their house! We had our nieces (3 of them) spend the night w/ us one Friday night and that's when I learned I'm getting older b/c I can't stay up all hours of the night anymore!! SAD! We also took the Gilliam kids to see a Twisters game w/ a group from our Sunday morning class! Once again, a very busy month but fun!!

August highlights: This month we started off w/ another trip! We went to Destin, FL w/ the Robinson's, Mullin's, Cheatham's, DeJoseph's, & the Miles. It was so much fun!! We left on the 3rd and didn't come home until the 11th. It was great! During that trip Jarred and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary. When we got back we learned about the death of Brian Dahl and went to Mississippi with a big group from our church to be with the Dahl's during that difficult time. We still think & pray about/for their family often. I also started teaching the 2 year olds for my annual 3-4 month rotation w/ Amber Mullins!! We had a really good time together. Jarred & I got to go to my home again to visit the fam for a weekend. We started our NEW Life Group that we co-lead w/ the Cheatham's over at the Robinson's house! Jarred also celebrated a birthday, he turned 26 and we had a celebration for him at Cajun's Wharf w/ a bunch of friends from church!! Thanks to all you guys that came!!

September highlights: Finally a month that we didn't have as much going on...not that I don't enjoy all that stuff!! We started this month by going to the FIRST Razorback game of the season...we get season tickets b/c Jarred's a DIE HARD fan! We attended the Family Life Conference at church (I was one of the committee members planning it so we didn't really have a choice). I had my first garage sale...made about $150...not too bad I guess!! PLATOONS started back, which I LOVE!! Our ladies Bible study started back (we're doing a Beth Moore study...it's great! The study goes through May). We threw in a couple more Razorback games and at the end of the month we house/kid sat for the Harris's at church. It was a great month b/c we were able to be at home most of the month!! Good times!

October highlights: Well, as I look back on the month of October I'm filled w/ mixed emotions...this is the month my Papa passed away. I was blessed b/c the weekend before he died Jarred and I were able to go to Montgomery to see him and say goodbye. We left on a Saturday afternoon and then on Monday morning Papa went to be w/ the Lord. It was a blessing from God b/c all the grandkids were able to go see him and say their goodbyes. We were all thankful for that. He died on the 15th and we had his funeral on the 18th. I'm thankful because I know one day I will see him again in Heaven! On another note, I did the Race for the Cure and RAN the entire RACE!! I was so proud of myself...if you know me at all you know I'm no runner so 3.1 miles was kind of a big deal for me!!! My goal for 2008 is a 10K (aka 6.2 miles)...I'll keep you posted on my progress.

November highlights: I got to start November off by meeting one of my FAVORITE cousins in Memphis for a get-together/shopping for Christmas trip!! This was WONDERFUL and much needed since I hardly ever get to see her! (By the way, she just got engaged Monday night so I just want to give her a shout out and say YAY!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!) I got ALL of my Christmas shopping done that weekend except for Jarred's parents...they are hard & Jarred always likes to help w/ them! I went to the Women's Retreat at church. Sara Barton was the speaker and I thought she did an excellent job! We had our monthly Life Group birthday party for all the birthday's in November & we had a big Thanksgiving Feast joint w/ another Life Group. We had Thanksgiving w/ my family this year (we rotate every year) so we went to Decatur and had a big meal w/ Mom's side of the family and then to Nashville the weekend after Thanksgiving to see Dad's side of the family. Needless to say we had LOTS of food. Last but not least I celebrated my 2 year anniversary w/ Stevens-Dell!

December highlights: Well every first Saturday in December we go to Jarred's parents house for the annual Christmas breakfast. This breakfast is INCREDIBLE! I mean his mom makes a spread and it's all good!! I LOVE that tradition. We went to dinner at Loca Luna one night w/ the Bennett's & the Northen's (who at the time weren't married yet). We had our Honeymooner's Retreat at Petit Jean. Our speakers were Mitch & Shannon Wilborn and I thought they did an excellent job. Petit Jean was great and I'm pretty sure everyone had a good time! We house/kid sat again for the Harris's. We went to Searcy to see Jarred's brother Jordan graduate from Harding and we also went to Benton to see Greg & Janice get married! YAY! We had a Class Christmas Party at the Clary's house. ALSO, out of the blue we get a call on Friday the 14th from the Tappe's to see if we wanted to go to COLORADO with them...well if you've read my last post you know we decided to go. It was definitely a last minute decision and it was a good one!! We celebrated Christmas at several places. Christmas Eve we celebrated at Jarred's sister's house, then we spent Christmas Eve night at Jarred's parents house and had Christmas Day w/ them. Then Friday after Christmas my family came to our house and we celebrated at home w/ them. They even stayed through New Year's and we brought in the New Year w/ my parents, my brothers, Michael's girlfriend Kaitlin and her best friend Catherine! All in all this year was very good to us. We've been very blessed w/ friends and family! We look forward to what 2008 has in store for us!! I'll keep you posted!

COLORADO!!!

The girls on the trip...

Jarred and I in front of the pretty Christmas tree.
At the Lodge, these are some of the slopes...you can kind of see the Gemini lift on the right.

View from our Condo, we stayed at Beaver Village.
Christmas tree outside the shopping center we went to.
This is the town of Winterpark, some of it anyway
This is us on the top of the mountain where the restaurant is...

Here are some pictures from our "Spur of the Moment" Colorado Trip we took last week!! The Tappe's called us on Friday the 14th to see if we wanted to go to Winterpark, CO and we were on the road driving on the 19th!!! Crazy!! I LOVE being able to pick up and go at the drop of a hat...I guess that's one reason I don't have kids yet! This was my first trip to Colorado and I had a blast. This was also my first time skiing (unless you want to count skiing when I was 8 in West Virginia, which I'm told is NOTHING like Colorado). Well, if you know me very well you know that I was very timid and scared going up on the mountain. I had no clue how I would do skiing and all I'd heard were horror stories about altitiude sickness, falling, etc. Well, luckily, I didn't have the altitude sickness too bad...I think I had it for a little bit the first morning on the mountain but after I ate lunch I was fine! Let me just take you through my first couple runs down the mountain. Okay, so Jarred, being the wonderful husband he is, was going to stay back w/ me and go slow down the mountain for the first time and just be supportive. We take the easy run and for the most part it went very well. I was feeling really good about myself after that. We decided to do it one more time and then try something a little harder!! The second run went great and of course by that time I'd grown a HUGE head thinking man, what in the world was I worried about. I'm athletic...skiing, no problem!!! HA! Was I wrong???? (Side note: we decided I didn't need ski school, Jarred thought he could just teach me, another side note...he's only been like 3 times before) So he takes me up the mountain a bit further...we get off the ski lift and I'm searching for the Greens...umm...where are the greens honey??? We go left and I look down at what at the time seemed like the biggest drop of my life!!! Straight down too, if I remember correctly!!! Well, Jarred takes off and flys down and gets to the bottom as I'm starting down...at this point, I'm not to happy w/ good ol Jarred!!! I get maybe a fourth of the way down and end up flipping (not on purpose) about half way down. Skis over my head, etc. So now I'm half way down this mountain and I'm upside down and stuck. By the way, it's not easy to just push yourself up on a slant! I know you put your skis sideways on the mountain but it's still hard...plus no ski school, remember??? Well, I finally get up (without Jarred's help b/c he's at the bottom, great right??)!! I'm going again and once again there I go, rolling down the mountain! I've made it to the bottom by now but I'm mentally done and I'm just at the bottom of that drop, not the bottom of the mountain!! I remember falling at least 4 more times down the mountain and on one I heard Jarred say "Good fall honey" at that point I'd had it. I was done falling, all I wanted to do was Get the Heck off that Mountain!!! I can look back now and laugh but at the time I was not a happy camper. We decided to go in and have lunch after that. I needed a break!

That's probably my best story of the trip...the rest went a lot smoother. I didn't fall much after that. I was able to go to the top (where the restaurant is) and ski down multiple times and I thought I did pretty great!! I'm no pro but for not doing the ski school I was pretty proud!! I've never been more sore in my life but it turned out to be worth it!!! I would LOVE to go back someday! Winterpark was beautiful...I don't think I'd ever seen that much snow in my life! OH- you should ask me about Jarred jumping off the ski lift too...that's a good one!! NOT! He did jump off though. I don't have time to write about it now but if you ask me later I'll let you know all about it!! Thanks to everyone who let us borrow all their ski stuff...at least we looked like we've been doing this all our lives!!!

Retreat Picture!

Here's a picture Amanda sent me from the retreat!! Thanks Amanda!

Honeymooner's Retreat Dec. 07 and more...

Well, it's be FOREVER!! Life has been crazy! I finally feel like I can breathe again though. Most of you don't know but for the last 4-5 months I've been planning our Sunday Morning class's Honeymooner's Retreat...Honeymooner's seems like a funny name b/c most of the folks in our group are no longer Honeymooning but oh well! We went to Petit Jean State Park on Friday night and came back yesterday around noon. I had such a good time! It was fun to hang out w/ friends and just enjoy being "away from it all." On Saturday we went hiking down the the Falls and it was great!! I've never been to Petit Jean, I know, I know, crazy, but I haven't! It is such a neat place and MOST of the staff there are very nice!!! I had some problems w/ one of the guys in the restaurant that tried to take charge once his manager left every afternoon but other than that it was fun! It's pretty stressful putting something like that together b/c you don't want people to have to pay too much money but EVERYTHING costs money so trying to keep the costs down was my biggest worry! Now that it's over I'm sleeping A TON better! :) I just pray that everyone enjoyed their time there and that they were able to grow a little closer as a couple and as a class. There's SO many of us in that class that smaller group trips are needed just to get to know people! I'm thankful for those that signed up and let me plan their weekend together!! Sorry I have no pictures from the weekend to put up!! Such a bummer! Hopefully Amanda will put hers up sometime soon!! Thanks Amanda for taking so many pictures!!!

We're now house/kid sitting again for a couple from church. We started yesterday around 3:00 so not too much of a break from the retreat to kid watching!! They're pretty good though, old enough to pretty much take care of themselves other than the driving part! It's fun, we really enjoying hanging out with the kids. It's fun to pretend for a while and then go back to our quiet home w/ our dogs!! Jarred calls it my "birth control" until we're ready to have our own family. I guess I'm selfish right now. I LOVE having Jarred all to myself and being able to pack up a do whatever without having to worry about anything else!! Don't get my wrong, one day I want to have a family but for now I'm perfectly happy with it being just me & Jarred!

One more thing before I sign off...I can't WAIT for the holidays to get here!!! We're having Christmas w/ Jarred's family on the actual DAY of Christmas but then my family will all be coming the weekend before New Year's. HOPEFULLY my Mimi will be coming up w/ Mom, Dad, and the boys. I LOVE having people over to the house and decorating, cooking, etc...can't wait!!! It seems like most of the time we get together Mom and Dad end up having to go back and forth from Little Rock to Searcy (my brothers both go to Harding) and so it will be nice to have them in LR the ENTIRE visit this time! Once again, I can't wait!! Anyways, there will be more info on the Holiday celebration later so be looking for that. Mom and Dad- make sure you tell Grandma & Granddad and everyone else we wish we could be there this weekend, hope you all have a good Christmas celebration together and give them all our love!!

It's been a LONG time!

Well, just wanted to let everyone know I'm still alive in the blogging world...we haven't had much to write about here lately but I'll be sure to post some pictures from Thanksgiving, hope everyone is doing good. Jarred and I are staying busy as usual...we're looking forward to a restful holiday break.

How Great is Our God!

So this past weekend was my visit to Montgomery to see Papa. We drove down to Birmingham to my best friends house Friday night. We got there around 11:30 (b/c of some CRAZY traffic, we should have arrived around 10:15!!). Anyways, we stayed at my friends house so that we wouldn't be in the way at Mimi's. Saturday morning we got up and left for Montgomery right after lunch. When we arrived Papa was awake so we got to go right back the bedroom to see him. When we walked in I could tell immediately that Papa knew who I was. I bent down and gave him a hug and said hello. It was hard for him to talk b/c at the time he only had one lung and it was almost completely covered in cancer. So...he mostly just nodded and turned his head to look at us while we were in the room. He seemed very content painwise but he did say that he wanted to fall asleep and not wake up. It was amazing how at peace with death he seemed to be. He was ready, his body just needed to catch up with him. Jarred and I spent about 30 minutes with him and then left the room to let him rest some. I was so happy that I got to see him and talk to him one last time.
Most of you know already but for those that don't we got the news yesterday that Papa had gone on to be with the Lord. It was incredible how fast it happened from when I was with him to the time we got the news yesterday. Saturday, when we were there, I remember talking with Mimi and Mom about how we thought he could live like this for a while, we knew he didn't want to but he seemed so content that we thought he would. Apparently with all the pain medication that he was on it was masking how bad he really was. By Sunday afternoon Papa had been put on liquid morphine (which I'm told is the most pain medication you can be on) and he became non-responsive as well. Hospice came in that afternoon and told everyone that it would be within 1-2 days. Although Papa was non-responsive Hospice assured us that he could still hear. About an hour before he died my Uncle Chris sang hymns to him. Mimi came in after Chris had finished to sit with Papa, she noticed that his breathing had changed and called my Mom in the room. Just before Papa breathed his last breath Mom and Uncle Chris both assured him that Mimi was going to be okay and that they were going to take very good care of her. After hearing this and that they both loved him very much Papa breathed his last breath and went on to be with the Lord. We had been praying after I left (After my visit, all the grandchildren had been able to see Papa and talk to him one last time) that God would take Papa home as soon as he could. God really does answer prayers. Mom, Mimi, & Chris are all very sad but they are also relieved that Papa is now in a better place. They are going to have a family viewing on Thursday morning and then the funeral will follow Thursday afternoon. We appreciate all your thoughts and prayers so much. I wouldn't have been able to get through this without all of you! I've really been strengthened throughout the entire process. God is working through my family and friends and I've been so blessed because of it. Thank you all.

Last Weekend

Well this is long overdue but I wanted to put pictures w/ this posts and I've just remembered to load them on the computer so here you go...

Last weekend my parents came to town to see all their kids! It was a much needed weekend for my mom, who has been extremely stressed lately with the "stuff" going on with my Papa. My youngest brother plays soccer for Harding and he had two games this weekend so it was the perfect weekend to come! Friday night I went up to Searcy (without Jarred b/c he had to work late) and met up w/ Mom and Dad out at my in-laws house for dinner. I didn't get to their house until 7:00 (Jay's game was supposed to start at 7:30) so Mom and Dad had already eaten and they basically gave me a hug and ran out the door to Jay's game. I stayed and ate a burger (My father-in-law makes the world's best burgers!!) w/ my in-laws and once I finished I went on to Jay's game. It was such a great game, Harding lost in the last 9 minutes 1-0. Of course, I think this was the coaches fault b/c he pulled Jay out w/ 20 minutes left in the game b/c of a slide tackle that he didn't think Jay needed to do and then w/ 9 minutes left the guy Jay had been guarding the entire game scores their ONLY goal!! Stinks, I know! Anyways, that night I stayed in Searcy at the in-laws house w/ my parents. That was a lot of fun to have both sets of parents together. I really enjoyed it!

Saturday morning I woke up WAY TOO EARLY for a Saturday and went apartment hunting for my brothers with the entire family! Dad took us to Burger King, of course, it's his favorite place to eat! Then after looking at my brothers top 3 apartments Mom, Dad, & I headed for Little Rock to go out to my house! They helped me design what I want my landscaping to be around the house. We've been struggling with this since we moved in, now we're just waiting for some money to fall in our laps so we can afford to do it!! Hopefully we'll be able to have most of it done by next Spring, we'll cross our fingers! Anyways, that night I went to watch the HOGS play w/ Jarred while Mom and Dad hung out w/ Michael and his now (as of Sunday night) ex-girlfriend. The Hogs game was definitely a waste of our time! The only good part was that it was our nephew's first college football game to go to (He's 5) and it was histerical watching him. I think at halftime we were up like 17-9 and Dawson came up and sat on Jarred's lap for a while and told him all about how we were "Killin them!!" Seriously, he's a hoot!!

Sunday I did an amazing thing...something that never happens at the Crow house, at least not for me...I woke up at 6:10 and went running w/ my Dad over the River bridge...it was great but oh my goodness it was early!! I'm not what you call a morning person AT ALL! I mean you can ask those closest to me, I prefer the night hours!! My college roommate and I had a deal where she didn't talk to me in the mornings until we were on our way to chapel and we DID NOT turn the lights on for at least 30 minutes after we got up!! It worked quite well. Jarred doesn't have very much sympathy in this area...he always tells me (much like my parents) that it's just a choice whether or not I'm going to be happy in the mornings...so, being the sweet husband he is, he go around turning lights on in the mornings just to aggravate me!! He seems to think this is funny...I do not! So after we went running, which I must say was an excellent start to the day, maybe I should do this more often...I'll let you know if this happens, we got ready and went to church! I was so bummed b/c Jerome wasn't there on Sunday, not that I didn't enjoy the singing but Mom and Dad hadn't been there to experience Jerome before I was so excited...OH well, next time!! After lunch we drove to Searcy, yet again, and went to Jay's other soccer game. Jarred and I made a stop at the hospital to see his Mammaw for about an hour and a half then went over to Jay's game. Mammaw is doing great and it was such an encouragement to go see her! Well, that's about all my weekend, we got to see about an hour of Jay's game then had to get back b/c we both do Platoons w/ the youth group on Sunday nights. I'll tell you all about that some other time...anyways, keep praying for Papa, Jarred and I are going this weekend to see him so I'll have more news on that next week! Thanks for all the comments and prayers...Here are some pictures from our weekend w/ the fam.

Announcing the starters at Sunday's game. Jay is the second from the end of the white jersey's!

This is my Mom and Jarred. Jarred is cracking me up in this picture...he never really smiles but I got him on this one! He's cheesin big time!!

This is my Dad.

Michael and Kaitlin (at the time of this picture they were dating, at the time of this post they are no longer dating...they were cute huh??)

Action shots...I totally need a new camera...I can't get it to zoom in enough and it's just old! Jay's #20 in the middle.