CHRISTMAS 2008

Whew! What a Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve with Brandon's family in Hot Springs Village. On Christmas morning Brandon, Frank, and Walter participated in the Schooler's 2nd Annual Polar Bear Plunge. Water Temp: 47 degrees! BBRBRRRRR!!! Eric chickened out this year. Brandon's Uncle Robert gave him an American flag that he has hung up in his shop already. (THANKS ROBERT! It looks great!) Thanks Grandma Jean for the new jogging suit.. can't wait to take a run "in style" soon. We traveled from there to Clinton for lunch with the Williams clan. Congratulations to Keith and Jeanie for their big BABY announcement (I'm praying for 3!). Then it was off to Greenbrier for supper and Christmas at my parents house. WOW! Check out the mess we had...
We are so thankful for a wonderful Christmas with our families. We pray that each one of you will have a very Happy NEW YEAR and that God may continue to Bless us as He has in 2008!

Merry Christmas from the Benson's

We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
May God continue to Bless you in 2009!

Fall Fun 2008

Here is a link to some pictures that have been taken recently during our fun times in Fall 2008.
I can't believe it's almost winter! :( I'm cold just thinking about it.

Fall 2008

Emily Anne Gregory

Rusty and Julie (Riddle) Gregory had their baby girl yesterday. Her name is Emily Anne Gregory. She weighed 7 lbs. 2 oz. and was 17 inches long. Here are some pictures of her. She has lots of dark hair. Notice that Julie already has a bow in her hair! :)

Here is a picture of me and Julie from her shower about a month ago.

Halloween 2008

Brandon is gone in search of Bambi for the weekend so I am what they call a "deer widow". It's ok for the first day, but I don't really like it much after that! :) It's way to quiet around and there's nobody to talk to. HAHAHA! I know you are shocked that I would need someone to talk to. :)
Last night I went Trick-or-Treating with Sister and the boys and then to the football game.
Here are a few pictures of our Halloween fun.

Riley as a frog

Reid as a dinosaur and Aunt B in her funny glasses.

GO Hogs GO!

Kristin and I tailgating.

Me and Brandon at the tailgate party!

Holy Cow! It's been a month!!

WOW! It has been a month since I blogged. Time flies when you're having fun! :)
We have been busy, but not sure once again what we have been doing. I do know that we have been watching lots of football again. Friday nights are high school football games and Saturday is usually the hogs. Spank only has 2 games left. They still haven't won anymore games. It's sad, but he's doing well. Not getting a whole lot of playing time, but when he does play he seems to do his best and that's really all that matters at this point. Last weekend we went to Fayetteville to watch the Razorbacks. What a game!! We had a great time driving up there and back with Kristin and Mark. We did a little tailgating and ate some good food thanks to Mr. Mark and Scott.
Work continues to go good. I really like being at the hospital. It's very fast paced and the day goes by quicker. Hunting season has begun so Brandon is excited about that. So far he has killed nothing, but time. He's going to Bayou Meto this weekend to hunt with some of the guys from church. Good luck boys! Kill me the big one! :) I sure hope they do 'cause I don't have any deer meat left to make chili and it's getting cold! I am already whining about the cold weather and it's only been a week. It's gonna be a long winter. :)
Well I can't think of anything really to add to the blog so I'll quit blabbing about nothing. Hope everyone has a great week!

Football, football and more football

hmmmm....... where do I begin??? The last few weeks have consisted of a whole lot of ball. We went to the Razorback game in LR (pictures of the tailgating festivities are soon to come) and every Friday night we have been at Spank's games. Greenbrier finally won last week against Heber Springs. It sure is good for their confidence to win even if it is against a smaller school. Reid is playing T-ball this fall so I have been trying to watch him play also. AWANA has started back at church so I have been busy trying to get everything together for that. AND to top it off Brandon and I have been playing co-ed softball with a team from my work so we have been playing 2 games a week with them for the last month or so. I guess that explains why I haven't been on the blog in almost a month! Hope everyone's doing good and is showered with blessings!

Friday night!

Friday night: I went to Spank's game at Heber. After their victory over the HS Panthers the team was in their huddle out on the field getting their post-game speech from Coach Tribble. Everyone in the stands was SILENT! 'cause we all wanted to hear what he had to say. Everyone, except the band director - she was trying to give her band people directions on what they were to do with their pants and their horns before getting on the bus. Anyway, after the speech the team was lead in a team prayer (later I found out that it was the superintendent that lead the prayer. I'll tell you more about that later) anyway, the band director kept talking during the entire prayer. HOW RUDE!!! Anyway, I was fuming... sister, mom, and Mrs. Tammy started encouraging me to go over and say something to her after it was all said and done.. next thing I knew I was standing next to Ms. Church, the band director telling her how rude and disrespectful she is/was. WOAH! I was very polite and just ask her that next time would she please show the Coach and GOD some respect by shutting her mouth and bowing her head! Yeah, I really did! When I turned around to go back to my so called supporters who pushed me to stand up to her, they (mom, sister, tammy) were already headed to the car! Whatever happened to "I got your back"?? The more I thought about the fact that the team was led in prayer by a school official the more I felt like I needed to let them know that I supported their public prayer 100%. So, I sent them an encouraging pat on the back this week hoping that they will continue to stand up for God. It makes me proud to know that Greenbrier Schools are lead by Christian leaders. What a stand to be the NEW coach and superintendent and not afraid to lead a team in prayer in front of everyone at the game. Come to find out Coach Tribble prays with them before and after each game, win or lose!

Labor Day 2008

What a weekend..... Saturday Brandon went to the Razorback game in Fayetteville and I went to Little Rock with Sister, Steven, and the boys.
Sunday we had company for dinner. We are so glad that Nana, Jeremy& Sarah, and the Hoffman kids could come over.
Monday Brandon and I were both off work so we went to hike Pinnacle with Judy, Frank, and Omar. Monday night Brandon's cousin Daniel came over with his girlfriend and friend to eat supper with us. We were certainly busy, but enjoyed every minute of it.

The Cake

A few weeks ago we went over to Kristin and Mark's to play Wii. I was in charge of bringing dessert. Here is the cake that Kristin and I somehow destroyed. I am pretty sure I shouldn't quit my day job! :)

Bumped from behind!

About a week and a half ago I was driving to get something for lunch in my new car that I have only owned for 5 months. I had stopped at the stoplight and was waiting patiently when I was "bumped" from behind. I pulled into the bank parking lot and called the police to get a report for insurance purposes. My car was not really hurt that bad and I could kick you harder than the lady hit me, but I am really glad that I filed with her insurance because it cost almost $500 to get it fixed. Thank goodness I have a husband who can fix it!

Worth the Wait

This past weekend I helped with a girl's retreat sponsored by our church. We had 20 girls in attendance from ages 12-19. The goal of the conference was to educate the young girls on the importance of waiting until marriage to have sex and the Biblical basis for these reasons. Here is a picture of the girls at the conference.


What a blessing it was to hear Judy Wallace speak to these girls. She is a wonderful speaker who knows the Bible and truly knows what she stands for.
For more information about the conference and Judy you can visit her website.
www.principlesonpurpose.com

Wedding News!

Congratulations to Scotty and Morgan!

Scotty Day and Morgan Ibbotson got married several weeks ago. This is a picture from the reception.

Scotty (the groom), Spank (the usher), and Cody (the groomsman)

This is a picture of me and Spank after the reception!

Scotty and Morgan spent the weekend in Eureka Springs so we decided to give them a little extra surprise when they returned to their new apartment from their honeymoon.

• 8 packages of streamers: $8
• 2 Congratulations Banners: $1
  
• 142 Balloons: $5
• Time it took to blow up that many balloons with a hand pump: 2 hours
• The look on Scotty and Morgan's face when they returned home: PRICELESS!
  

NOTE TO SELF: Never, ever tell anyone where the spare key is hidden!

The Ponderosa

We just recently got the backyard fenced in. Kitty loves being able to run and play now. I feel much better knowing she's not chained up all the time. This is a view from the front yard.
This is a view from the backyard.

Locks of Love

BEFORE

Today I donated almost 11 inches of my hair to "Locks of Love".
Julie went with me for moral support! HAHAHAHA (Thanks Julie!)
Brandon tried to talk me out of it, but I keep telling him that someone needs this hair worse than I do and it will grow back. He wasn't too shocked when he saw the result, but this is the second time I have donated so he kinda knew what to expect.

AFTER

For more information about Locks of Love you can go to their website locksoflove.org

T-Ball

Reid played his last t-ball game tonight. Here's a picture of him earlier in the season when he was playing catcher. He begged Coach Matt to play catcher. When Sister ask him why he wanted to play catcher he said "cause you get the ball almost every time".

Wild River Country

I went with Sister and the boys to Wild River Country this afternoon. I really enjoyed the "lazy river" and the wave pool playing with the boys. Reid decided that he wanted to go down a BIG slide so you guessed it... I had to go first to make sure that it was not too scary for him. The only catch is that there's a pool of water at the end of the slide and you pretty much have to go under when you get to the bottom. For those of you who know me you know that I am not a big fan of swimming especially going UNDER the water, but Reid really wanted to. So I had to be a big girl and go down the slide. Only thing is there wasn't anyone at the bottom to catch me like there was for Reid. It actually ended up being alot of fun even if I did have to go UNDER all 3 times that we went down it. Here's a link to a video of the ride.
http://www.wildrivercountry.com/attr_vid_blklight.html
What I do for those boys!! I sure hope they don't ask for the moon someday! :)

Shopping Bags

Here's the latest news that I forgot about in my last entry. I no longer use plastic bags when I go to the grocery store. I bet I have a bazillion of them in my closet (let me know if you need some) and I am sick and tired of bringing home 10 more everytime I go to the store. SO... I now take my own reusable shopping bags that I have accumulated from Wal-Mart, Kroger, here and there! Not only am I cutting down on all those stinking bags that I can never seem to use up, BUT I am going green! You also get a 3 cent discount per bag at Kroger so I figure by the end of the year it would pay for itself.
Here's a few laughs about my shopping bags..... I took them to Greenbrier to the "Stupidcenter" to get a few things. When I handed them to the cashier she looked at me and the bags like I had lost my ever loving mind or handed her a foreign object. I just smiled and politely told her to put my groceries in there instead of using a plastic bag. The other laugh was at Wal-Mart one day. I have an insulated bag that I absolutely love and the cashier was making a big deal over it... "oh this is so nice, it will be great for the ride home, blah, blah, blah" so she rings me up, bags my groceries, and sends me on my way. When I get out to my car I am pretty sure I laughed out loud in the middle of the parking lot 'cause she has put my bread and cereal in my "insulated" bag. Boy, am I glad she made sure my bread didn't get hot on the way home! :) Anyway, not only am I doing my part in helping the environment, but I get a good laugh ever once in awhile as well!

KITTY

this is a picture of Kitty when she stayed the weekend with Bridget Heffington AKA Kristin and Mark's.

Update!

well, it has been a long while since I have blogged. Where do I begin??

# 1. I finally got a new car. After many trips to several different car dealerships I bought a Toyota Camry. It took a while for me to find THE car that I wanted. I did drive the Civic for 8 years and plan on driving this one for a long time as well so I couldn't make a rush decision. :) I have tinted the windows since this picture was taken, but here's a picture of the new ride.#2 I ran the Country Music Half-Marathon in Nashville, TN and finished in 2 hours 11 minutes and 22 seconds. I would have finished under 2 hours, but started having knee pain and had to walk 1.5 miles of the race. Here's a picture of my AWESOME medal that I got for finishing. Oh by the way I placed #8004 out of 21, 368 runners!

#3 We took the boys to Wye Mountain while Meme and Loyd were here.


Riley turned 1 year old on Saturday!











#4 Jessica and Omar got married in May. I'll have some pictures of that before long.

#5 Kristin R. and Clayton got married on Saturday. CONGRATS Mr. and Mrs. Whittmore!

I can't think of anything else that has been going on lately. Brandon has started working in his shop and I like him being at home when he's working.

Happy New Year!

We wish you all a Happy New Year and pray that God will continue to bless each and every one of you!
We had a wonderful New Year's. We stayed the night at Kristin and Mark's house and watched the Razorback game on New Year's Day. I had to work 1/2 day on New Year's but made it back in time to watch most of the game. We enjoyed getting to see Molly and Cameron and their cute kids on New Year's.
Meme went back home last week and we miss her a whole bunch! If you know of anybody who might want to live in West Texas let me know 'cause I would sale her house for her in a heart beat!
We found out this weekend that Brandon's sister (Jessica) will be getting married in May. Congrats Jess and Omar!