My Week with Katie!

This summer, I was able to have Katie come down and spend a week with me! I had talked to Wade an Amanda about it a year in advance, just to give them time to think about it and prepare themselves.
Wade and suggested that we meet up in Louisville, KY for the exchange! Sounds so sneaky, huh! I really liked that idea, because I only had to drive 3 hours, where they had about 6 hours. We stayed in a hotel and then each headed back home.
We all got there in the early afternoon, so there was plenty pool time available! I don't have any pictures of that, but there was one particular thing that happened that I wish I would have gotten on film.
Well Kyle just loved the pool and became very fearless about jumping into the pool, into mom or dad's arms. Most of the time this took place in the shallow end of the pool. Well Kyle had decided to do some jumps in the deep end, which would have been fine had he had Wade to jump too, however at this time, Amanda was the only one available and Amanda is a little...well....short. So while she was holding on to the edge of the pool, she had to keep pushing Kyle away from the pool when he would run close to jump, which was only hilarious to those watching. Kyle didn't think it was as much fun, because he didn't understand why he couldn't jump in and Amanda while laughing, kept hollering for Wade to come and get him. It doesn't sound that funny, but trust me, hilarious! Thankfully, Wade soon got to the deep end of the pool and was able to allow Kyle the jumps he so badly wanted to do!
The only picture I have in Louisville is me with this suprised look on my face. I think Kyle was telling me something very important and with being the favorite aunt, I was listening to every word!

See, look how attentive I am!

I decided to take Katie to the Rainforest Cafe' when we got back into town, because she had talked about that place for many many months. She was not disappointed!



I had the week planned out as you will see!

Day #1 - Nashville Shores

No pictures, my contract won't allow it!

The very first ride that Katie and I went on was this yellow ride and we should of asked what the ride was called before we got on it...it was called "Scream"...oh and we screamed. I had my eyes shut the entire time, it was so scary, we managed to ride the stupid thing one more time. Katie was really scared the first time, but she wanted to do it again later in the day, so being the great aunt, we did it!
We stayed their till about 5 pm which was really good, because it started to storm on our way home, so bad in fact that I couldn't see really good, so we stopped off at my friend Stephanie's house (Judge's mamma) and stayed there for awhile! I believe that was the first time I introduced Judge to popcorn, Stephanie loves it when you throw popcorn on her carpet by the way! :-)

Day #2 - Painted Clay Studio

We headed to Murfreesboro and spent the day painting pottery. Let me rephrase, I only painted on thing, Katie painted three things!

The artists at work!

I think this is where Katie was talking smack about how slow I was!

Yes, Katie was able to get three items done before her Aunt (Favorite) Stace was done with hers.

DA TA DA DA!!!

That was such a fun day! Tonya was able to meet up with us after she got off work, so we headed over to the Mellow Mushroom (Pizza place) and we were able to eat in the retro bus, pretty fun!

Cheese!!!!

Day # 3 - Adventure Science Center and Legally Blonde

Katie and I headed out to the Adventure Science center in the morning, we were planning on going to the zoo afterward, but it was sooo hot, that we decided to just head back home and get into the air conditioning until it was time to go see Legally Blonde!

Who needs a gym membership, I will just get a membership at the Adventure Science Center and get my workout there. It would be cheaper and more fun!

In our seats with my friend Sally

Day #4 - Pool time

Do to my sweet friend Melissa, Katie and I were able to spend a lot of time at the pool. Melissa's son Jonathan and Katie hit it off really well, it was nice to just watch them play together and I didn't have to be in the pool all the time! I'm alot of fun, but not as much fun as someone your own age!

Katie and her buddy Jonathan

Again, no pictures, my contract won't allow it!

Day #5 - The Mall/"Up" and The Grand Finale - "Princess Protection Program"

Eating at Sonic with my friend Nellie, before we head to inflatable fun!

Unfortunately, I had slipped on some of my research, I had planned on taking Katie to this place that had all inflatable slides and obstacle courses (they were one of my customers and they were supposed to have their grand opening that weekend). However, they had not opened up yet so we ended up going to the mall and went to see the movie "UP" in 3-D. Katie didn't like the movie as much as I thought she would, so this was probably the least fun day, but that didn't stop me from trying.
There is a kiddie train that runs through the mall....so guess what we did!!!!

How cute are we?

Katie had been talking about wanting to watch Princess Protection Program, a movie that was going to be on the Disney Channel, so we popped popcorn and she was able to watch her movie!

She even looks cute with 3-D glasses on!

Day #6 - Returning Katie back to her parentsSaturday morning we got up, stopped off at a donut shop and got our donut and strawberry milk and headed out to meet up with Wade and Amanda. Kyle would be staying behind on this trip. We were just going to meet for lunch and then everyone was going to head back home right away!
When we finally met up (there was a little confusion on which exit to stop off at), we hung out about 30 minutes and then headed off in different directions.

That week that Katie and I spent together, was one of the most wonderful times for me. To steal a line from my mom, "she is the delight of my heart". She is smart, beautiful and has one of the most tenderhearts, I am absolutely blessed to be her aunt!

I hope there will be more trips to Aunt Stacy's in the future!

A Memorable Quote by Katie

Katie told me so many funny things through out the whole week, I wish I would have written them down. Fortunately I did remember one thing that she told me...

- Did you know that if you are going to go Elephant hunting, that you need to shoot the elephant in the head, you need the elephant to run at you to do this. Do not sneak up on them, they don't like that! You need to throw a rock at it, and then it will turn and run at you. It's very important that you are not by yourself the very first time that you Elephant hunting! (You may be wondering how this conversation came about. I really have no idea, we were on our way to the Adventure Science Center and she thought I needed to know this tidbit!)

Kyle turned the be "0-2"!

This last weekend (April 4th) I was able to go back to Wisconsin to spend time with my family and celebrate Kyle turning 2 years old! His birthday was actually on Monday, but the party was on Saturday.
The trip started out a little rough, I flew from Nashville into Milwaukee and I was supposed to then fly from Milwaukee to Madison. Well, when I flew into Milwaukee, I found out that the other leg of my trip was on a 2 1/2 delay, meaning that my flight wouldn't leave Milwaukee till 12:30 am on Saturday morning. So I called my parents and they thought it would be a good idea to come and get me, which I was happy about!
The car ride home was much more fun then the plane ride would have been, my niece had come along with my parents and she was filled with alot of information and jokes that she happily shared with me. (Does she sound like anyone you know?) I have to tell you that she made up a couple of jokes and they were actually good, I even wrote them down.
On Saturday morning, Mom, Katie and I headed to Wal-Mart to pick up some Easter stuff. When we got home, we saw that Dad was building a toy barn for Kyle. Friday night on the way home from the airport, we had talked about how we wished we had gotten Kyle a toy barn for his birthday, apparently dad was inspired, he is so talented, it only took him a couple of hours to make. Sooo... dad, start drawing up some plans, cause Stace needs a house!!! :-)

All it needs now is paint!

How cute....

Kyle was demonstrating what a monster does

Katie, Kyle and I spent alot of time outside taking walks and going up in the tree house. I also got the toy Ford Jubilee tractor that my parents had bought for Katie when she was around Kyle's age. I pushed Kyle around on that for a little bit, he really liked that alot, my back wasn't too crazy about it, but I got over it!


Kyle's birthday party was going to be held at mom and dad's house, they were excited about that, because dad got to barbecue and mom enjoys having people over. We ended up having about 25-30 people over I think and there were plenty of kids for Katie and Kyle to play with.

I can't believe that dad allowed the John Deere cake to come into the house!

Do you notice that father and son both have bib-overalls on!

On Sunday I was able to have brunch with my friend, Michele - Michele's mom - and Michele's daughter, Casey, who is my god-child. It was nice to spend a few hours catching up with them. I also got to see their new house, very nice!

It ended up being a short weekend, but a great weekend!

Kyle was all about jumping on and drooling (I know it sounds gross, but it was hilarious) on his sister, I think it's payback for all the times she wouldn't leave him alone

On one of our walks in the field beside my parents house, I just happened to see this rock and I thought how perfect for the holiday that is coming up this weekend - Easter!


I hope you all have a fun and safe Easter with your family and friends and that you would be reminded of how much was sacrificed for you. You may not have a relationship with Jesus Christ, my prayer is that you would know how very much HE LOVES YOU and that he is knocking at your door, if you would only let him in and be part of your life!

Run Forrest Run...

Extra... Extra...Read all about it "Sunday, March 29th - Stacy did a 1/2 Marathon!"

Yep, that's right folks! That's exactly what I did!
My friend Melissa had asked me if I would do the Knoxville 1/2 marathon with her. I thought as long as I don't have to run it, count me in. I had joined a group that would meet early Saturday mornings and walk between 3 to 6 miles, there are other groups that would run or do intervals. The majority of the people in the groups were getting ready for the Country Music Marathon and 1/2 Marathon being held in Nashville April 25th.

Melissa lives in a very hilly subdivision, so on Sundays when we could get together, we would walk in her subdivision, to prepare ourselves for Knoxville!

Most of you know that I am not a morning person and it was hard to get out of bed at 6 am on Saturday mornings, but it was neat to be done walking around 9 am and still have the whole day to do whatever need to be done. I also met some really nice people. I'm going to continue to walk with some of the girls even when the Nashville marathon is over with, it will be great accountability to get out and walk.

Anyway, Melissa and I had left Saturday morning to head to Knoxville, stopping off in Crossville at the outlet mall to do a little damage in the shopping department, it was fun though! We got to our hotel and checked in. Melissa had done all the arrangements before I had even signed on to join her with the marathon. We were less then a block away from where the race was going to start and the room was great!!!!

1982 World's Greatest Fair ball

I'm going to need some help with this one!

We went and got registered for the race

I loved my bed! You can see I had already claimed mine by sitting on it an wrinkling it!!!

I know...I know...who takes a picture of the sink, I just loved it. I would like o have my bathroom like that, except with the bowl sitting on the counter and of course it would be bigger!

We had met up with another friend Sally, who also walks with me on Saturdays, and Sally's sister Rebecca for supper, the big pasta meal! It still seems silly to me to eat this huge pasta meal and bread the night before a race, but it really does work!

This was a neat restaurant/brewery! On the first floor in the middle of the restaurant was a huge bar. I think this had been a old warehouse. They had pool tables set up in the back!

Melissa, Sally, Rebecca and me
Yes, that is a pitcher of water in front of Melissa! I told her to just use a straw!
I am just jealous, I wish I could drink that much water!

Melissa and I tried going to bed early, but for one thing Knoxville is a hour a head of Nashville, so when we tried going to bed at 9:30 pm, it was only 8:30 pm. So we stayed up I think till about 10 or 11 pm watching tv. Then we were both awakened by two girls that apparently thought that it was 4:10pm instead of am. But Melissa went and had a "come to Jesus" meeting with them and they went away quietly!

The race started at 7 am, it was still dark out and my adrenaline started bumping when I saw all the people. I actually started the race running and probably ran 1.5 - to 2 miles right away. I had lost Melissa about 2 blocks into the race. Her walking is my jogging, she had started jogging, so I told her to go on without me.

It was great to see all these people that came out on there lawns with encouraging cheers or signs. One of my favorite signs said "Piggyback rides $20", a little kid was holding it. I told him I might take him up on it later in the race!

I had not taken my ipod because I thought I would be able to talk to people, but this seemed to be more of a serious event to people, so there wasn't a lot of conversation to be had. I was able to use that time to talk to God, pleading for help! Ha Ha, I'm just kidding! I only pleaded for strenghth at mile 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13! Anyway, I had asked God to give me a word or show me something, something just for me! I will tell you what he showed me at the end of the race!

I had alternated between running and walking most of the race. There were also bands playing at different locations throughout the race and there was one area in this subdivision (around mile 8) that had this massive stereo system set up that was cranking out the music! When I was going by, they were playing "Rocky Top"! What an inspiration for me, that's just what I needed, thank you God! When I came to mile 9, that's when I had hit the wall. The miles seemed longer and I was wanting it to be over. Sally had given us each a packet of energy jelly beans, at least that's what they looked like, we each had to close our eyes and pick a packet, I picked the orange bag, how fun!) So I started eating those and they helped and it took my mind off what I was doing!

Melissa and I had called each other a couple of times wondering where each of us were at. We figured that I was about a mile behind her. Which was really good for me!

My goal was to finish the race in 3.5 hours, the reason being, they were going to start opening up the streets and were going to start asking the marathoners to use the sidewalks. Which is no big thing, I just wanted to be done by then. I had called Melissa around mile 11 and she said that the time was showing 2 hours and 46 minutes, she was almost done. When I heard that, I almost started crying, because I knew I had just a couple more miles and I would be done, close to 3 hours! That pumped me up and I decided that I was going to start back jogging again!

Now do you want to hear about what God did for me and showed me??? As soon as I got to to top of the hill and I could see the stadium (University of Tennessee Stadium, the finish line was on the 50 yard line)! I just started running, not jogging, I was running. I had already done 12, almost 13 miles and God gave me the strenghth to run to the stadium and when I ran into the stadium, there was no one a head of me that I could see and there was no one behind me, they announced my name over the loud speaker and I was greeted with cheers and applause, this moment was all mine!!!! God had been with me the whole time, encouraging me, giving me strength and then cheering for me at the finish line! Thank you Lord!!!! I am so undeserving, yet he still finds favor in me!
I can only imagined that this is just a part of what Heaven is going to be like when we are called home!!!
My final time was 3 hours and 3 minutes and 55 seconds!