It has been 7 months since I have sat down to blog...WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?  We have had so much happen I don't even know where to begin or how to catch up.  On Feb. 14th Joe's mom got really sick and ended up in the hospital for about 5 months.  Much change has happened for her and even the family but we are so very blessed that she is still with us and we thank the Lord each and every day.  On March 9th Joe moved to Little Rock Arkansas to work for a barrow out.  It has be a blessing but also very hard to be away from one another for so long.  He is able to fly home every 26 days for a 4 day stay.  The boys and I have drove down twice to spend a few weeks with him.  Arkansas is so beautiful not anything like I had imagined. 

When school got out Riley and his DI Team made it to Global Finals in Knoxville TN, so we went down May 23-26th.  There was 20 countries and 45 states that competed, it was a wonderful experince.  We drove down to AR and stayed a few days with Joe and then all went on to TN.  During this trip visited the Little Rock Zoo, Pinnacle Mountain, Nashville TN, went to Dollywood, and the Memphis TN Zoo (we went and saw the Panda Bears). 

On June 21st I got to take a trip of a lifetime to France.  Julie Geiger and I went to Southern France for a week and then took the train to Prais France.  It was AMAZING there are no other words...we stayed at Chateau Dumas which was an 18th century chateau in south west France.  I will have more about our trip and pictures soon!

I got home from France on July 4th and Joey came home for a visit on July 5th.  We took a trip up to the Black Hills.  We where able to talk the Svajgr's into going with us so it was 5x's the FUN!  We tubed down the Niobrara River one day, drove on to SD the next and stopped at the 1800's town where the Dances with Wolves movie was filmed and then to Wall Drug, SD.  We took in Mt. Rushmores light show that night.  It was so moving and neat to see (I have been so many times and this was the first to see it at night).  The next day we played at the indoor water park and then off for more fun that afternoon!  We had lunch at the top of the Alpine Slides and then went down...it was so much fun everyone wanted to go again!  Than to the Cosmos Mystery Area where even water runs uphill.  We went back to Mt Rushmore to see it in the day light and go through the museum and last Bear Country.  We had a wonderful family summer vacation!

The boys and I went back to Little Rock for a week to see daddy before school started.  We had once again a great trip.  We drove through Eureka Springs so I could go to the Wilson and Wilson shop had lunch and just went to the shops in town.  We then drove through the Ozark National Forest on to LRock.  We got dad and went on to Hot Springs, AR and went to Magic Springs Amusement and Water Park.  We then went to Mountain View, AR where we went to a cave, went hiking, and got a cabin in the Ozark Forest.  The last few days we got our school shopping done, went to Little Rock Central High School, and of course went to our favorite eating places!

Overall it was a pretty amazing summer for everyone and we are so very blessed to have had all these opportunities.