Family Vacation 2011

We just got back this week from spending a week at Big Cedar Lodge with Patrick's family. They have been going there since 1990. I joined in the year we got married. I absolutely love going there, and hate to leave when it is time to go. It is such a relaxing and beautiful place. It is right outside of Branson, MO, and it right on Table Rock Lake.

The third day we were there we rented a pontoon boat, and went out on the lake. We do this every year, and it is one of my favorite things to do there. We usually ride around first, and then pick a spot to tie up to so we go swimming. This year my mother in law bought some floats so we just hung out in those. It was so relaxing, but they always say you can have too much of a good thing. My sunscreen wore off and my back got burned. It was worth it because the water felt so good!

The next day we tried out a new activity they have at their nature park Dogwood Canyon. We went on an atv ride through the park. It was so much fun! They just started it this year, and they created their own trail for it. We got a little dusty, but it was so worth it! We stopped at this really pretty place that had a huge hanging rock and a stream for pictures. Then on the way back the guide took our pictures when we splashed through a stream.





Throughout the week we also went on a garden tour, and my MIL and I even went to Zumba one morning! Saturday afternoon my MIL, her mom, and I went to the Sights and Sounds theater to see Noah. It is an awesome show! The ark is around you on three sides and you feel like you are on it. The use real and animatronic animals, and the acting was great! The show has been there for three years, and this is the last year. I am so glad we took the chance to go.

New Orleans

My Mother in Law was asked to judge Louisiana Farm Bureau's Miss Farm Bureau Contest. Since she did not know if she would still be taking care of her mother I went in her place. I have never judged a beauty contest, but I never pass up the opportunity to go to New Orleans!

So Patrick and I left on Wednesday to stay with our friends Brad & Amanda. They live in South Mississippi so we try to visit whenever we can. We always have a great visit, and no matter how long it has been we always pick up right where we left off!

Thursday we got up and made our way to New Orleans. We checked in and then went walking around.


Patrick loves it when I take his picture.. not. Oh well he should be use to it now.

Even though I lived in New Orleans when I was younger I never get tired of going back to visit. I absolutely love all the beautiful architecture in New Orleans! Shooting in manual is still a very long work in progress for me, but I am enjoying the learning process.






I probably could have taken so much more pictures, but the heat and hunger won. We wanted to eat at The Gumbo Shop. My friend Stacy had taken us there before, and we both loved it. But the line was long so we wandered around and finally picked Pierre Maspero's. It was pretty good.

The next morning my judging duties started early. We spent about 5 hours interviewing all the girls. A big part of the Miss Farm Bureau contest is the contestant's knowledge of the Farm Bureau organization. We had 28 contestant's to interview, and they were all very impressive young ladies.

We had the night free so Brad & Amanda came to visit us. We went to Drago's to have some yummy charbroiled oyster's. We spent the rest of the night walking around and talking about old times.



The next morning I attended the ladies brunch. The contestant's had a fashion show, and we got to hear from the current queen about her year. That night was the contest. The girls were all beautiful in their gowns. We picked the top ten, and then they had to answer a question. Then we had the hard job of picking who would represent Miss Louisiana Farm Bureau for 2011-2012. I think we picked a beautiful young lady who no doubt will not only do an excellent job of representing LA Farm Bureau but agriculture as a whole. It was a very hard thing to do. All the girls were so sweet, and so very smart. My faith has been restored in the youth of our country.


Sunday we got up and had a wonderful Jazz Brunch at the Palace Cafe. Then we set on a adventure to find Plum Street Snowballs. We had seen them on the Food Network, and knew we needed to try them out. They for sure did not disappoint us! Overall it was a great weekend that Patrick and I got to spend together!

Catching Up

Lots of things have happened since I last blogged. So things have been good and some things have been bad/horrible. I think I will address it bullet style!

* We are hopefully getting closer and closer to starting fertility treatments. Waiting to hear back from the nurse. Lately I have had such a peace about it all. But that came only after being down in a very deep valley. I am just glad to have something to look forward to and not be in limbo. So I will continue to update on that.

* Things on the sewing front have been slow. I have lots of ideas and projects I have bookmarked. All I need to do is go pick out all the fun fabrics!

* My mother in law and I went to Baltimore for the American Farm Bureau's Women's Leadership Conference. We had a great time learning new things, touring interesting places , and hearing inspirational speakers. If you ever have the opportunity to hear Patrick Henry Hughes and his father speak please go! He is a very inspiring young man!

* Patrick's grandmother has been in the hospital for a week. She was having trouble breathing last week. They found out that she had blood clots in both lungs and her right leg. She also found out she has COPD and is diabetic. Poor thing has had a lot thrown at her in a short period. Hopefully she be discharged tomorrow and will go to my MIL house till she gets her strength back.

* The worst thing that has happened has been all the tornadoes in Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia.. We had quite a few in Mississippi one of which was an F5 in Smithville. Of course the huge tornado in Tuscaloosa as well as other parts of Alabama. Some of the videos look so horrible it almost looks fake. Like they were out of Twister. Sadly it was all too real. Very scary! Big huge horrible tornado that destroyed people's homes, businesses, and took innocent lives. It just breaks my heart. All the devastation is too much to bare. I can't imagine all the people from those towns trying to put their lives back together. I have prayed daily, and will continue to pray. One of the girls from our church is a student at Alabama, and thankfully she was safe, and now she is helping out by collecting items to take back. I plan on getting as much together to send as possible.

* And on a final note today I went to my gym today to sign up for the Advocare 24 Day Challenge. I have my box of goodies, and will start it all tomorrow. I also signed up for the six week slim down they are doing. So hopefully I will report back with good results!

My First Sewing Preject!

I mentioned a few weeks back about buying my sewing machine, and sewing with friends on Fridays. I went last week and had a great time! I started my dish mat that I previously mentioned. Well I got almost half way done before it was time to leave. I thought it would be no problem to finish it at home. Well I pulled it back out on Monday. Lets just say my machine and I did not get along. I calmly walked away and left it till today. Well today I finally finished. Pretty sad it took me two Fridays to finish it. But I am slow at sewing plus we talk a good bit. I will say it might not look excellent, but I love that I finished something. Plus it is my first project so when I get really good I will have something to look back on. Also it only will ever see wet dishes so it does not need to be perfect..haha. So her she is.. I don't recommended looking really close especially if you are an expert at sewing. :)


Here she is doing what she does best.


Overall it was not a bad choice for a first project. I would probably do some other things before I make one for someone. I am currently on the lookout for a new project. We shall see what it I will pick.

32 & Counting

Nope the Duggar's did not adopt more kids, and there is not another family trying to beat them. I just happened to have turned 32 on Wednesday! I can't really believe it myself, because it seems like just yesterday I was turning 21. But I definitely don't feel older, and most people still think I am in my late twenties.It was a rather uneventful day to say the least. I woke up feeling pretty bad so the early part of the day I spent in the bed trying to feel better.

When I was in the bed my wonderful mother in law dropped off a present! She got me another piece of Etta B pottery which I love! It is a really cute bowl that I can use at our upcoming social at our house.


My friend Amanda got me a cute Vera Bradley Loop Keychain in the Baroque pattern. My gift from Patrick is currently MIA. I told him in January I wanted an Ipad for my birthday. Well a few weeks later we heard about the Ipad 2 coming out. So we both decided I should just wait to get that one. I never imagined it would be so hard to find. Or at least the one I want is hard to find. I want the 16gb Wifi/3G in black. So we are currently signed up to get some emails from a few places when they get them in stock. Why do I have the feeling it might turn into a Christmas present..haha

When I was finally feeling a little better I got up and got ready. We went by a cupcake shop and each got a cupcake...ok so maybe I got one for later too. :) We then went to eat dinner at a nice Mexican restaurant. My birthday was finished with a trip to Costco and Target. Sounds like a glamorous and exciting birthday huh. lol But I actually enjoyed the low key day. I got to spend a whole day with Patrick doing whatever I wanted. That was probably the best gift I received that day. They are starting planting season full force. So that means he leaves early , and gets home after dark. The next night my mom, sister, Patrick, and I all went out to eat. We had a really good time, and ate some yummy Italian food!

My 31st year was a year full of ups & downs, fun times & sad times, building new friendships and rekindling of some old friendships. It was a year where I grew in so many ways. I learned from all those time, and I hope this year is filled with some great things as well. I will do my best to write about it all here.

I found my old posts!

As I said before I was really frustrated that I had lost all my previous posts. Well when I really want to do something I just keep trying. I finally found out how to find them! I typed my blog address in Google along with a title I had managed to remember. I found it and hit cached underneath, and I was able to go to a cached version of my blog. Of course I had to go one by one and find them. I also had to make new blog posts. But you know it was so worth it to have those posts and memories back! Now by no means are the greatest posts ever, but like I said I hope to look back at my blog in years to come to see how far I have come.

I think I can.. I think I can

A few weeks ago I decided that I would like to start sewing. Now let me just fill you in on some things. I know a lot of women had moms or grandmas that sewed, but neither my mom nor grandma sewed. I actually was the one that would sew on a button for my mom if one came off. Which was with a needle and thread, and it probably came off again very soon. So I am not sure what possessed me to buy this machine.




There she is in all her glory. I was so excited to unbox it, and look at everything included. I still have no idea what to with it. I did buy some fabric remnants to try it out. There is light at the end of the tunnel though! I found out the same week I bought it that some of my friends meet at our church to sew on Fridays. Tracy R. has been sewing forever so she is going to help me! My friend Amanda went last week, and she made something cute.

So with luck and my friends help I will hopefully be making the super cute dish mat from Fly Through Our Window. Of course I will have to use some Amy Butler fabric. And you know I will come back to post about my day!

Love my new blog design!

I absolutely love my new blog design! Leslie from Sweetie Baby's is responsible for making my blog so pretty! I have followed her blog for sometime, and I have always loved looking at all the blog designs she has done. So I decided to treat myself to a new blog. She was so nice and just great to work with, and involves you in the whole process. I highly recommend her if you are looking to give your blog a great new look.

National Ag Day

I am sure to most people today was just a regular day. But did you know that today was National Ag Day? I am sure you might ask what is National Ag Day about? It is a day to recognize and celebrate the abundance provided by agriculture. National Ag Day was started to increase public awareness about American agriculture.

Just about everything you have eaten, worn, and used today has come from American agriculture. American agriculture provides a safe, abundant, and affordable food supply. Did you know that every American farmer feeds more than 155 people, and we only spend 10% of our income buying food? Here is a short video that gives you some more food for thought.



As a wife of a farmer I woke up this morning proud to be a part of American Agriculture and my hardworking husband! If you see a farmer please thank them for their hard work, and the food and fiber they supplied you today. Also if you ever have any questions about our safe, abundant, and affordable food supply please contact me.

Thanks BzzAgent!

I walked out my door this afternoon to find a box. I love getting packages so I was excited to see what it contained! I opened it up to find my SC Johnson Smart and Easy Spring Cleaning kit from BzzAgent! I have been a BzzAgent for about a year. I think I signed up after I saw it on someone's blog naturally :) I checked in a few weeks agoto see what was new, and signed up for this campaign. Well look at all the freebie's I got.

Let me give you the rundown:
- One 4oz. Glade Limited Edition Spring Collection jar candle (smells so good!)
-One Glade Plugins Scented Oil refill Crisp Waters
-One Pledge Lemon Clean aerosol spray
-One 20oz. bottle of Scrubbing Bubbles Mega Shower Foamer with Extend-A-Clean
-One Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Cleaning Gel Kit with dispenser and gel discs
-A mega-savings coupon booklet-Over $58 dollars in coupons!!!

I was so excited about all the goodies, and I am a coupon loving girl. They have included enough coupons to share with some of my coupon loving friends. All I have to do as a BzzAgent is try the products, share my opinion with others, and complete a few activities at BzzAgent.com. Pretty easy and a good deal for such great freebies. So I will be sharing my opinions of the products I received in upcoming post. I also really encourage you to become a BzzAgent if you are not already.

Latest Attempt at Being Crafty

Wanted to share my latest attempt at being crafty. It started almost a year ago when I was finally able to drag convince my sweet husband to go to this cool architectural salvage place in downtown Memphis. It is South Front Antiques. This place is a DIYer's dream! Their website says it is the largest architectural antique store in Memphis. I would believe it. This place has three floors filled to the brim with all doors, windows, doorknobs, mantels, etc.

I just wanted to check it out because I have never been to an architectural salvage place before. I knew maybe I would want to eventually do something neat with an interesting old window. I dug through all the windows and didn't find one. Well in front of some of the column's there she was.

I wanted to take her home then, but Patrick said I should think about it. So fast forward a week when I convinced my mother in law that she would love it and we needed to go. So since my pretty window was out in the open and not covered up with other discarded one's I thought she would be gone. We walk in and I try to give my MIL time to look around, but I really wanted to run down to the basement where I last saw my pretty. We finally get down there and there she was! She was purchased with a few other treasures I will show you later!

So then I brought her home, and started the sanding process the next day. She was pretty bad off. Then we got busy with different things ,and she kind of got shoved in a corner where I forgot about her.. sad huh. Finally I got her out to spray her my lovely Rustoleum American Accents Heirloom White. Of course after a hefty application of newspaper and painters tape to safe the lovely panes.

Once again I had to put her up while we went out of town. So she had to sit for a few months (notice a trend here). Finally I got heavily bit by the DIY bug and drug her out two weeks ago to finish her. I sanded her in a few places which was followed by some walnut stain in a few key places. Then she got another one of my loves applied- Ralph Lauren Smoke Glaze.

I knew I wanted to put pictures in the eight small panes, but I was not sure what to do with the four long ones. Finally it hit me I would finally use my Cricut to cut vinyl. I had a two sets of wall hangings from Willow House that I wanted to use with the window so I found some scrapbook paper to mount the pictures on that closely matched their colors. I then cut out some fun scrolls that worked with everything and cut those out.

I really liked the final product, and I am proud of my first big (at least so far) DIY project. I naturally wanted to hang it in the center of my wall with my two sets of wall hangings on either side. But we all know how smooth plans run. The studs dictated where she would hang so we could only use one set. Oh well I really like it and it looks a whole lot better than the blank wall I had for so long. You be the judge. Also sorry for such a long post, but I got a little excited!

I lost my old blog posts...grr

Yep you read the title right. I have had this blog since 2009 and had made several posts here and there over the last two years...well they are all gone. Including my first of this year that was big. It had a lot of details about our infertility. One of the main reasons I started this blog was to keep up with my life, and be able to look back and see how far I had come. I can't get those posts back that contained my feelings at that time, and that really upsets me. All I can do now is move on. I was planning on coming here and posting more pictures of some more crafty attempts. I will post those maybe tomorrow after I cool down some.

Craft Attempt

Well I have had all the materials for probably close to a year. Finally on Saturday I decided to bite the bullet. I didn't really make anything I just changed something that I got on the cheap and not my taste to something I really like.

I bought this little piece at one of favorite stores ever Hobby Lobby.

It was on the clearance aisle for $8. The previous sticker said $13.50, but I am not sure of the original price. I bought it more for the shape than the design. The shape reminds of something Pottery Barn would sell.

So yesterday I broke out my materials used so often by some of my favorite bloggers Shanty 2 Chic. First I sprayed it with Rustoleum American Accents Heirloom White. Then I used my one of my new loves Ralph Lauren Smoke Glaze. You just paint on and wipe off with an old towel. It was so easy!

Here is my final product:

And I decided to put on my tv cabinet with my some of my Etta B Pottery.

While I had all my stuff out I finished up a project I started back in the fall. I will update in my next post about it.

I Promise to Blog More

Alright well once again I have taken way to long of a break. I want to blog to be able to look back at all the things happening in my life. Hopefully I will post all the great things going on in my life right now such as being on the American Farm Bureau's Young Farmer & Rancher Committee, the little things we are fixing in our house, my attempts at being trying to be crafty, or my attempts to save big with coupons. I am also sure I continue to post about our continuing infertility struggle. That is something I have really been struggling with lately.

On the infertility side my doctor finally gave us a referral to a fertility clinic. We were able to get an appointment in September. He looked at my previous blood tests, and the year’s worth of Patrick’s analyses and told us our only option was IVF with ICSI. After some uncomfortable and painful tests, and more countless blood draws I waited for them to contact me like they said. Finally I called the doctor's nurse end of December to ask what was going on. She said she looked over my file and meant to call me the month before to start things. I was a little upset that I was kind of over looked. So here we were waiting again and feeling defeated. So she told me to call her the first day of my next cycle so I can start the birth control pills. So I call in January and she says my cycle won’t work this time because the lab will be closed when I need to come in. Once again I was left feeling defeated, and I could barely finish the phone call before bursting into tears. So once again we wait, and I think I am going crazy in the process.

But as my blog is titled I am trying to be hopeful and patient. I am trying to change the way I look at things, and remember only He knows when and where. I am also trying to find things to occupy my time so my mind does not wonder. We have been gone so much the past couple of months with the committee that I have not really had time to think. Well now I am home and I starting to have too much time on my hands. So I came up with a few ideas to try to keep myself busy. One thing I am going to try and do is get my Willow House business in full force again. Willow House was formerly Entertaining at Home, which I have been with for four years. I usually have two to three parties a year, but I know I can do so much more with it! I am going to get my name out there more by posting some things on my blog, Facebook, and looking into some sponsor opportunities on other blogs. Also I am going to help out in the office of our farming operation. The poor back office is paper logged so I am going to use my organizational skills to hopefully find the top of the desk!

Well hopefully my next post will be really soon.. although like I have said before I know I am the only one who reads these. :) Also I am working on getting a prettier blog :)