~Our Vacation~

Again this year we were very blessed to have a vacation with my parents.. Larry just loves traveling with them. Now, how many SIL's or DIL's can say they LOVE their in-Laws??? But we have alot of fun with them. This year, we had a few hiccups, but had a blast even with all that. One week prior to leaving, Larry hurt his shoulder, which we later found out was a torn rotator cuff. Then the night before we were leaving, mom's front crown fell off, which we super glued back on, because we could not get ahold of a dentist.. Then on the way as we were in Baltimore waiting on our flight to Ft. Lauderdale, I stood up and twisted my back out. Yeah, A ROCKY start.. None of that kept us from having a great time. We boarded the Largest Cruise Ship in the WORLD - Allure of the Seas on Sunday, Nov. 13th... You can read the particulars about the ship on the side of the pic.. It was HUGE!!!!! We immediately went to find the Carousel, yeap a real working carousel on a ship... Mom, dad and I promptly jumped right on and around we go.. It was GREAT!! Then we found the hot dog stand, right there on BoardWalk beside the carousel. Dad was in Heaven, He LOVES hot dogs.. We could not get into our cabin until 2 so they had time to clean them good from the last group. So we waundered around the ship. Out of 16 passenger decks we were on deck 11... Way up there.. That night we attended the Oceanaria show, it was a diving, acrobatic water show, outside under the stars and you could hear the waves beside the ship.. Then we spend a relaxing day at sea, exploring the ship. Comedy show that night was the PITS! Really vulgar and NOT funny at all.. Then we were in Nassau.. Who does that young man look like?? Yeap David Brown, even sounds like him when he talks... It was a great day there, Had to buy Larry some short sleeved shirts, he was about to burn up.. Sat in the market place and listened to them play steel drums. I could listen to them all day... The show that night was Chicago... I enjoyed it, kinda skimpy costumes, but the show was good.. There is just SO MUCh to see and do on those ships, you cannot possibly do and see it all. We found a "neighborhood" on the ship called "CENTRAL PARK" it was on Deck 8, when we left the cabin going anywhere, we went to deck 8 and walked through Central Park and got on the elevators at the other end of the ship to go where we wanted to. It was so peaceful and fresh.. Lots of trees plants, birds chirping (real and audio recorded) shops, places to eat, places to just sit and relax.. Mom's favorite place on the ship. They had a salad/sandwich shop there that made an awesome salad and a really good roast beef sandwich.. There were cabins on the ship with balconies that overlooked Central Park, Boardwalk and the ocean.. Ours was an ocean view.. only in this pic you see the docks in Ft Lauderdale. But you get the idea.. Here this one is better. We are leaving the port of Ft Lauderdale. They had parades on the ship, with the captain of the ship as the grand marshal on his motorcycle. They have belly flop contests, of which we did not join in. There is a casino, lots of eateries, Spa, salon, bars on every corner, if you need/want it more than likely they have it on board. we were having dinner in the Windjammer one night and they were dipping ice cream out of tubs like Baskin Robbins has, Dad handed the girl his bowl and she asked 1 scoop or 2? His reply was "whatever you can fit into this bowl" so this is what he got... He LOVED it. He had ice cream every night.. I have barely scratched the surface of my pics. I took over 1000 in the 9 days we were gone.. But maybe you get the idea that we had a fabulous time... Thanks mom and dad for going along with us.. We had a Great time.. Can't wait for our road trip this year.. Niagara Falls, HERE WE COME!!!!

~Out Little Man~

Aunt Sue, Please do not have a heart attack.. I am going to try to do better about posting... I PROMISE!!!!

Well, it has happened. Larry never thought it would, but it did.... Bruce moved out in Mid March... It was really a sad day for me. I helped clean their new home and get it ready for him to paint 2 rooms, the baby's room and another bedroom... So now it is just Larry and I here in this house.. But I have adjusted fairly well.. I still get kinda jumpy, but that is getting better..

Then there came "ROBERT EASTON".. Yeap, he finally arrived. May 27th at 1:33 AM, by emergency C-section. He weighed in at 9 lbs, 15 ozs, and 22" long... With a healthy set of lungs.. Mom, Dad and Baby are doing well... I was just informed at 6 weeks, 3 days he tips the scales at 12 lbs 15 1/2 ozs.. He i taking 4-5 ounces of formula every 3 hours. only waking up twice during the night for a bottle. He got his days and nights mixed up for a couple of days, but then straightened out... He is a really good baby.. He nows his daddy's voice.. Bruce only works 4 10 hour days, so Fridays are his and Easton's CAMO day... That is his day with Easton.. The girls are tickled to death with him. Nana has not been able to keep him at her house yet, they are keeping him at home away from most germs for awhile. I did get to pick him up and take him to see mom and dad after she came home from her surgery.. That is another story I will get to in a minute... We spent a couple hours over there..

Just 3 weeks after Easton was born, mom had colon surgery. Hopefully her Divertculum is CURED!!! She had done GREAT with her surgery. Still has very little energy most of the time, but other than that she is PAIN FREE!!!! Praise the LORD!!!!! I have not been there to help as msuch as I should have. Got caught at Bruce and Lyn's one day when Easton had his days and nights mixed up. Lyn asked me to watch him and let her take a nap, he had only slept 1 hour that entire day.. How could I refuse.. Then I came home from work one day with a virus so I did not dare go over there with that.. But she is doing so well, the doctor released her 2 weeks post op.. That is very UNUSUAL...

With everyone feeling and doing well, Larry and I ran off to Branso for the 4th of July weekend.. It was fun, really HOT, but fun. We saw the Dixie Stampede. I enjoyed it, but don't think Larry do so much... Did some junk shopping, alot of walking.. It was good. Came home arund 4 PM on the 4th. Rocky, Deanna and Lil Bit came out and we pull started the 1931 Farmall regular that Rocky has rebuilt for us. It moved under it's own power after Larry pulled it with the Blazer.. Rocky was beaming from ear to ear. What a Great thing. Mom and dad came out and got to see it move as well. It was AWESOME... Hope you can view the video. NOtice toward the end after Rocky gets back on it, he runs over the chain Larry is pulling him with...

Wow that was exciting. I think Rocky is still grinnin over that...

This past weekend, I took Cem, Gab, Maranda and Bri to the lake house for the weekend. Kelsey's grandma from CA is here visiting. SO we snuck off without her, I hated doing that, but we planned this when we thought she was not going to be here this past weekend. Did not want to tell the others we could not go. There will be lots of other weekends.. They are not letting Easton go places yet, so that will come also.. The weekend of the 22, I am going to Dallas with Cem and Gab on a youth group trip, that will be exciting. We are going to a Rangers game on Friday nite, then Six Flags all day Saturday. Then back home on Sunday... Rocky, Deanna Kelsey and Deanna's family are going to the Lakehouse that weekend...

Well, better get off and get some sleep. Work tomorrow. This is the beginning of our Fiscal year. so I am keying some 100 plus contracts for this year... I will get them all done...

Nite all. LOVE TO ALL!!!!!!

~STORMS~

I do not like Storms.. But living in AR as I do, we have lots of them especially this time of year. Last Tuesday night I had all the kids over here dying Easter eggs. and along comes storms... I had everyone texting me, calling me.. sending me messages about the sirens going off and the storms... Then the very next night, I was all alone, the power went out, it was again storming, and guess what??? NO phone calls, NO texts,,,, not anything... Oh well... It stormed all night long,,, But I survived...

THen we had a GORGEOUS weekend for Easter... It was a great day. We all gathered at mom and dad's, just missing James's Family and Buck (he was working). Had a great time with the kiddos hunting eggs, then they decorated sugar cookies.. Had icing and sprinkles all over the patio, but the rain washed it off that night... I will add pics when I get them off the camera. I am adding this between tornados tonite.. We had tornados last night and again tonite.. They are saying the ones tonite are going to be really bad. but so far. has not been too bad.. Kelsey told her mom, she needed to go check on her Nana, cause Nana was scared of storms too like her.. SO they came out here since Rocky is in class in Litte Rock and will be in later,,. So here I sit, Kel is in living room watching Madagascar... I am doing a little updatin watching the sky out the window in the office.. Looking a little dark, I think the next storm is supposed to hit about 7:30 or so.. Guess I better get off and shut down the computer. All you in Storm Land, be safe tonite. May God keep his protecting hands on all of you and also on all of you that are in good weather right now. LOVE YA!!!!!!!

~Hyacinths are in Bloom~

Aunt Jeanette's favorite flowers are in bloom.. This was her favorite flower, I think Uncle CW planted them shortly after the funeral in hopes they would bloom this spring and they did... They are so pretty just like she was... I miss her SO MUCH... After mom's knee replacement I pressed the call button on my phone on her number, I almost did the same thing on my way home from the hospital the other night after dad's shoulder surgery.,. I just cannot make my self take that number out of my phone... I feel as if I am erasing her from my life and I never want to do that... I had told Brent, I would keep an eye on these flowers and send him a pic when they bloomed... Well today I was out there and they were in bloom, but I did not have my camera, Deanna had borrowed it to take pics of Kelsey at Soccer practice the other day... Good think I had my trusty phone...
Just when we thought Spring was here, with all the warm days, today it is COLD again... I am so ready for warm weather... I just do not like the cold, it makes me hurt too bad, but Spring will be here soon...

Well gotta go, I think the peach cobbler is done. Gonna let it cool a bit and then take it to mom and dad... I went and sat with dad today for a couple hours while mom went to get some groceries... He is doing great.. He forgets and tries to use his arm, but soon is reminded that he cannot do that just yet... But soon he will be able to do things he has not in a very LONG time... I am so blessed to have my parents and to have them so close to me.. I have a friend that is sitting in an inpatient Hospice unit tonite with her mother... I cannot imagine the pain they are feeling right now... But I pray for them to have the strength to endure this pain. God will wrap his loving arms around them and give them comfort and strength... After all he is the GREAT COMFORTER>>

~WAY BEHIND~

Where to start. So many things have happened since I last posted.. Sorry, I have not finished the trip, may complete that later..



First, I am going to be a Nana again.. Bruce is going to be a daddy in May.. Found that out end of Sept. Since then we found out Dec. 27 (Mine and Larry's 15th Anniversary) they are having a BOY.. My FIRST GRANDSON!!!! His name will be "Robert Easton" Wow, how exciting.. Now we will have to change "GIRLS NITE OUT AT NANA"S" since there will soon be a boy in the mix... But we can do that..

Yesterday, Bruce told me he had placed an offer on a house and it was accepted... So now we are buying our first home... So his world as he knows it is about to CHANGE DRASTICALLY!!!!!! But he has a good head on his shoulders and he will do fine.. Me on the other hand... Not so sure about, Have not been childless for almost 32 years.. What an adjustment. But this too I will handle..


Mom had knee replacement, that was not so much a piece of cake.. Her knee has done great, even with all the set backs. She ended up really sick the day after surgery with some type of virus maybe, not sure... She was real sick for about 48 hours.. Then went to rehab with some type of rash on her back... then home... Well for awhile, then in the hospital (OVER CHRISTMAS) with a severe bout of Diverticulum... Then she went into Bronchial Pheumonia. Hopefully she is on the road to recovery now...


Dad was supposed to have Shoulder replacement on Feb. 17th, but he had a bad cold so it was postponed until March 1st.. So hopefully that will go off with little or no hitches... I need them to both be well. We have trips and tractor shows to attend to...

Christmas:: We had Christmas on New Years Day, since mom was in the hospital on Christmas.. We had a great time. Almost everyone was there.. We played the Left Right Family, and then Dirty Santa. It was hilarious... We had a GREAT TIME. but it always is a Great time when Family is together... Our family is getting really large.. It is hard to fit all of us in the living room.. But we manage....

Larry had his cardio check up. His cholesterol was good, but his triglycerides are way high.. over 500.. So now we are on fish oil caps... Hope that gets those down.. We are supposed to recheck in 3 months, that is if I can get him to the doc for re-check.. Men.....



My girls are doing great... Kelsey had her 5th Birthday at the Wellness center pool. A pool party on the 29th of January and the outside temp was "75"... Imagine that... Could have had an outdoor party at the park.. That would have been great too, but in AR you never know what the weather is going to be.. I think we had about 25 4 & 5 year olds, plus Cem and Gab... We had a pool full. And K bug, said, "I had a BLAST at my pool party"


Rocky and Buck have our 1931 Farmall Regular completely torn down. I have a parts manual ordered. As soon as it comes in, we will be busy ordering parts to rebuild the motor in it as it was locked up, which we knew when we bought it.. They have had a blast tearing that old thing down. Can't wait to get it running, and painted. We may try to haul it in the parade, cannot drive it as it has spikes on the wheels and it would tear up the pavement. It will be Battleship gray..


I have been creating a Family Photo album on Facebook. There are some really OLD pics in there. Everyone seems to be really enjoying seeing them old photos. Some are more recent, but there are some of Grandma and Grandpa Tuberville's parents in there. Check em out.. I have more to scan and post. So far I think there is almost 300 photos in 2 albums... I am having a large time putting them up there..


Other than all that, not much going on here at our place... I will try to do better about posting more frequently..


LOVE TO ALL!!!

~Part 3 - JUNEAU AK~

Today we arrive in Juneau, the capitol of Alaska, It is raining..... Going to be a wet, kinda cold day... Before leaving the ship we "HUNT" for somewhere to get some breakfast... HAHA.... After breakfast we are off the ship and on our way to Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget Falls (off to the right of the glacier).. Soon after arriving there the rain stops.. Great now we just have cool weather... What a HUGE chunk of ice... It is beautiful coming out of the mountains.. What a gorgeous view of God's creative imagination... This is a receiding glacier, it is getting smaller.

Now back on the bus for a narrated trip on down the road to Auke Bay, where we board a boat for Whale Watching.. What HUGE amazing creatures they are.. I LOVE watching them.. They feed in the waters of Alaska and then travel to the warm waters of Hawaii to have their babies. I was up on the open observation deck of the boat we were on taking pictures.. It was cold up there, but it was amazing to see these whales... Now back on the bus to head back into town.. We do a little shopping and looking around before heading back to the ship and Dinner.... I wish there were someway I could tell you every little detail of everything we did and saw, but there are just not words to describe it accurately.. It was just spectacular... And to be able to share this with my parents is beyond words... I only have about 1000 pics of this trip... and not one of them does justice to what it is of... So let's see where are we off to next... I believe Skagway....

~Part 2 ALL ABOARD~

Sept 3rd, we headed for the Pier and to board "Rhapsody of the Seas" for Alaska... I had done most of the checking in online before we left for Seattle.. So we got checked in and on the ship... You should have seen the look on mom and dad's face when they saw the ship.. WOW... It was spectacular.. So we are on board and found our cabins.. We are on Deck 7 with Balcony cabins.. They are ajoining so there was a door between our cabins.. Then it was off to expore the ship and grab a bite of lunch.. We headed for the Windjammer for a buffet lunch of all kinds of food, salads, desserts, and breads... Eat all you want and walk out, no waiting for the check.... Just as we were leaving the pier we had to Muster, a safety drill so you know what to do in the "Unlikely" event of an emergency.. So off to our lifeboat stations we go.. We made sure we were on deck 4 when the alarm sounded, so we did not have to go up or down alot of stairs, easier on mom's knees... After Muster, it was off to dinner we go... We went to the dining room this time. I heard the people seated at the table next to us talking about beans, cornbread, fried potatoes. I said, "You must be from the South" and guess what, they were from Berryville AR. they knew Sister Yarbrough and all her family. Small world we live in... We enjoyed chatting with them..

Now we are off to the Welcome Aboard show in the Theater with the Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers.. Great show.. But it's time for a snack before going off to bed... Are you beginning to see a pattern here with "Food".. Yes, you can literally eat 24 hours a day somewhere on the ship... Tomorrow we are at Sea all day... Nothing to see but the Sea on every side... No sight of land...

~Where to START?? Part 1 Seattle ~

I am so far behind in posting.. I may break this up into several... Back on Sept. 1, mom, dad and I left for Seattle, met Larry at the airport as he was getting on his flight... He hung out with us for awhile, then headed home to regroup, print boarding passes and get ready to head out the next day to join us in Seattle...

We had a long travel day,, but finally made it to Seattle and our Hotel... Hotel shuttle took us to a local restaurant called "the Roaster" for dinner. Then it was time to turn in, because we had a busy day planned the next day..


Charles, Mashelle, Nick and Joe, picked us up around 9 and we headed for Snoqualmie Falls, beautiful place.. LOVED IT... we walked around the area and viewed the falls from all angles and waundered through the gift shop before heading out to our next stop..



On to the Seattle Space Needle. They were getting ready for the Labor Day festival that weekend.. Great park... Had lunch at the Food Court there in the park. Waundered around some of the street vendors, in the Space Needle gift shop (no one went up in it)... Weather was great, Not too hot and not too cold.. Got some great PICS....

Then on to a drive along the coast, where we saw beautiful parks and GORGEOUS hanging basket planters... Then back to the Hotel to wait for Larry to arrive... Then to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory... WOW,,, What a great dinner... We laughed and had a great time.. Thanks Charles and Mashelle for a WONDERFUL day aroud Seattle... It was great seeing them and getting to meet your 2 youngest sons.. I had not seen Charles and Mashelle since Josh was about 2 weeks old, that is A LONG TIME!!!! Hope it is not that long till I see you again...
Then we called it a nite. Tomorrow onto the Ship and North to Alaska....

~21 DAYS~ and stuff....

21 days from today, right now, we will be on a ship with my parents headed to Alaska. We will probably just be finishing up with the Mandatory Muster (Emergency Drill)... I am so excited, but sad at the same time. Larry's favorite Aunt and Uncle are not going to be able to join us. I totally understand the circumstances, but still sad about it.
Larry and I have been on an Alaskan Cruise before, but this time will be SUPER special. We get to experience it through my parents eyes (remember to take your glasses)... They have never been on a cruise nor have they ever been to Alaska. This is going to be SPECTACULAR...

Things at work have been just absolutely crazy. One of the secretaries, that thinks she runs the entire show there (only been there a little over a year) has filed a grevience and I, along with several others has been named in it. We all had to write a statement about things that have been going on. We really want her out the door. She is just a real piece of work... It has been a really bad atmosphere to work in. Hopefully they will have a hearing soon and things will change..

This past month, I have had some health issues and all the doctors are pointing their finger at other doctors, it's not what I treat, it's what you treat... etc.... It has been crazy, but I think we may be getting somewhere now. I have had a COMPLETE cardiac workup, stress echo and all, and it is not my heart, My heart is in excellent shape according to the cardiologist, but they did pulmonary function tests and found Reactive Lung Disease, caused by exposure to toxin.. I go Monday to talk about a plan of treatment, but until then I have an inhaler I have to use twice daily. In looking back over my records the doc says I have been complaining of most of these same symptoms for almost 3 years now.. So I probably got it when we were building the house and I had pneumonia and spent alot of time out here with all the paint, glue, grout, etc in the house with my lungs already compromised with the pneumonia. It took me almost 6 months to get well from that... I was beginning to think I was allergic to my new home.. Heat aggravates it alot and we have had ALOT of triple digit temps the past month. The cooler weather in Alaska will be great for it.

All the kids go back to school on Thursday. They are all back in the same school again this year, except Kelsey and she is still in Day care, but next year will be Kindergarten... That is going to be something... Not ready for that...

Well better get off here and fix my husband some supper...

NIte All.

OH Tomorrow mom, dad, larry and I are off to the LawnMower races in Hope. Another exciting outing.. Can't wait. Gonna be a HOT ONE!!!!!!!!