All State Choir - Senior Year

Hot Springs Convention Center...Ryan had a great weekend learning 4 pretty impressive songs for the concert on Saturday. I love a kid who loves to harmonize just as much as he loves to hit someone on the football field or hit one over the fence. His teacher is an inspiritaion because she believes in the kids and she encourages them all to do their best. Ryan didn't place where he wanted to at All State, but he was there and it was awesome.

Valentine's Day

We don't go on dates often, and almost never out of town. I'm so thankful for a man who wants to be romantic even when we're over 40 and VERY BUSY. I worked 5 days out of town and he still planned to take me to dinner to a very cool restaurant in Fort Smith. I love this man.

College Visit

I did not take pictures of us on the campus tour, or talking to the lady in the financial aid office, or even in the honors college. The funniest moment of the day came in the cafeteria sitting in the middle of a packed room of college kids. Richard asked Ryan if he was more uncomfortable that he was new in the room, or if he was more uncomfortable sitting with his parents. While Ryan was trying to decide if he was going to be honest or kind, I mentioned that we could do a flash mob to make him more conspicuous. We laughed out loud and the tension was gone. We had a good day and really enjoyed spending the time together.

I didn't go to Princeton last September when Richard and Ryan visited there. (although I did get a t-shirt)  I also didn't go with Richard and Gramps when they took Ryan to baseball camp at Baylor. It was a totally new experience for me to go to ASU and ask "Mom questions" to my hearts content.

About college, I'm really excited for Ryan to be able to go and have a great college experience. He's a mature 18 year old, has a great work ethic and moral code and will be successful wherever he goes. However...I predict that when we take him to college and I walk away from him toward our car, I will cry.

We're waiting on a few scholarships to come through to make some final decisions. I'm a little ticked that U of A won't give him more money. Evidently, they don't want kids who are class presidents, are All State in both sports and choir, have a 4 point,  and have received multiple senior awards even before the year is over.

We didn't do the flash mob in the cafeteria, but I did take this picture.

Gearing up for Rhea Lana's in Russellville

I'm gearing up for my next event and I'm digging in! I'm so thankful for a blessing in our lives as we have sold our second event in Broken Arrow. After 3 seasons, we had a mother/daughter team from the area approach us about buying. In true "only God could do this" form, Richard and I had discussed, prayed, and agreed that we we would be open to selling the business the DAY BEFORE Rhea Lana called us with the question.

This was on a Friday and Richard was out of town. On Monday he faxed them our paperwork and financials on the business and a number we would be willing to sell for. On Tuesday night, after talking to their accountant, they agreed to the price. OH MY! I'm so thankful for the instant relief of not having two locations, two marketing orders, and the travel involved in running the business in Broken Arrow (2 1/2 hours away). I know the income potential is great in Broken Arrow, but I'm at a time in my life that the stress is too much.

I'm going to do more training with our new franchisees and I'll be an account executive for a few of our franchises. I love my job and I'm excited about my Russellville event...in 5 weeks!

PROM

I'm not a big fan of prom. There's so many expectations about this ONE BIG night, and I think it's been portrayed pretty losely on tv. However, we've allowed Ryan to attend twice and both times with the right girl, the right activities, and with his good friends, it has been a fun, memorable event for him.

SO, this year Lauren has been asked by Dillon, one of our former Dbacks and a guy we've seen grow up around Ryan. We're pretty happy with her choice, or his, whatever. I will say I was dreading going to pick out our first formal for a girl who would rather have on her skinny jeans and sperrys any day of the week.

After a lot of pre-activity discussion about , we headed out and ended up in Russellville. This is the closest town to us, and not where we had planned to go...but God showed up and in less than 2 hours we had ordered a dress. I don't want to post pictures prematurely, but I can't help it.especially since "we are not getting a red dress." Ha! We were both pretty excited and relieved. I can't wait to get to play with her hair now!  (joke)