just as much fun as the game

good food + fantastic friends + amazing weather = some oh so good Razorback tailgaiting

Watching Nick's TV debut online.

Caley!!!

Nick and (upside down) Rachel

me and Jenn

Nellie's new rock!!!!

~ the ladies ~

Halloween Par-tay!

Greg and I went to a Halloween party last week with the young professionals from our church. (yeah, yeah... we skipped church for a Halloween party. Heathens I know. We did have an elder and a priest present though...)

professional wrestlers

Lilly Truscott and Hannah Montana

Hannah Montana and Billy Ray Cirus

The Perfect Sermon: "fire" and "brimstone" ...and... a firefighter and his fire dog

~ Ironically ~

a firefighter and his fire dog

Super Mario

a priest and pregnant nun

Richard Simmons and... a client

a bumblebee and Braveheart

a redneck and Wendell Beall (an elder at our church)


AND...

an awesome eighties couple!

Yes, that is crimped hair and a mullet.



Greg helping Jennifer try on his mullet and 'stache

haha, Only because I love you, Jenn!

My mullet portrait. Grossly close to my 2nd grade school pic.
(If Greg ever runs for public office, I may regret this.)


HAPPY HALLOWEEN from the Northens!!

Why I run.

October is national Breast Cancer Awareness Month. So last weekend, I went down to Little Rock with two of my best friends, Nellie and Caley, to run the Race for the Cure. Despite getting split up amongst over 45,000 women, we all crossed the finish line and got back home safely.

I have run in the Race for the Cure for several years now because breast cancer has had a tremendous impact on my family. I have always run the race in memory of my grandmother (mom's mom) who died from breast cancer in 1964.

I have learned a lot about the history of the disease from hearing my grandmother's story. Like the fact that breast cancer was almost shameful to women 40 years ago. Awareness was nothing like what it is today. There was no Race for the Cure, no Komen Foundation, no pink ribbons, and no Breast Cancer Awareness Month. There was also no chemo or radiation. This left people with very little hope. How different my grandmother's story might have been if she had been diagnosed later in life.

In high school, I started running the race for my Aunt Linda as well. Fortunately, Aunt Linda's story is one of survival. Love you "Saint" Linda!

Two years ago, I ran into Aunt Linda at the race along with two of my cousins, Lori and Shari. I always think its crazy when you run into someone you know out of a sea of almost 50,000 women!

All of my great aunts that made it to adulthood have battled this disease. Aunt Alma, Faye, Ruth, Jean and Linda. In addition, my Uncle Kenneth is a survivor...

(Not my best pic. We really need to update this one, Uncle Kenneth.)

I wish more people knew that men can get breast cancer. In fact, men have a lower survival rate than women. I'm no doctor, but my guess is that its because there is less awareness among men about the disease.

This year's race was different though. I ran it for someone new. I ran it for my sister who found a lump in her breast just before Easter of this year. She had a lumpectomy a couple weeks later. You can read her story HERE.

I know that our journey is not over. The two greatest risk factors for getting breast cancer are being a woman and growing older. But I am so thankful that we have put this obstacle behind us, and everything is OK.

There are so many causes that people can advocate... good causes that deserve attention and study. My ultimate "cause" (for lack of a better word) is to share the love of Christ with other people. I do feel compelled however to do my part in spreading awareness and understanding of breast cancer. I have always felt this urge. I believe that God put it on my heart to be involved in finding a cure. I've seen the affects that it has had on my family and others. It is a disease that has affected too many people. I pray that someday we do find a cure, and we will give God the glory. But that time is in His hands.

If you can cook, I need your help!

Recently at school, we started club days. Each teacher was asked to sponsor a club. Well I love to cook (never said I was any good at it, but I love it none the less), so I decided to sponsor the cooking club. Last week was our first club day. My 6th and 7th grade kiddos made a dirt cake for their first creation.

The finished product (It tasted better than it looks!)

Next week on Wednesday is our 2nd club day, and I DO NOT KNOW what to have them make!

HERE IS MY DELIMA:

We have 20 minutes. ONLY 20 minutes.

**That means we have to cook, eat, and be cleaned up in 20 minutes!**

Also, I would like to avoid chopping, mincing, slicing or anything else that involves knives.

Unpredictable 12 year-olds + knives = I loose my job.

We do however have a full kitchen: microwave, stove, oven, refrigerator.

Since we did a dessert last week, I would really like to do something different for our 2nd meeting. A fruit, vegetable, or entree perhaps? Bonus points for a breakfast food too because clubs meet at 7:50a.m.

So post, call, text, or email me your recipes people. I need your help. The Cooking Club needs your help!

GO HOGS

Greg and I traveled down to Arlington, TX this past weekend with some friends for some Hogs vs. Aggies at the new Cowboy's stadium. It was pretty much an awesome weekend.


The whole crew.

This summer, Greg got to tour the inside of the stadium with his dad. I had only seen the outside when we were there for the weekend for a Ranger's Game.

Here's a good pic of the entire stadium (well all I could get with my camera anyways). No worries... those weren't our seats.

We started off in the student section and our friends were off somewhere else. At half-time we found these seats and all got to sit together. This was our view for the rest of the game... no big deal.


Greg ran into two of his high school buddies, Tyler and David.

After the game, we waited in the rain for our shuttle. When we finally got on, we waited and waited and waited some more to go anywhere. Traffic was gridlocked.

So we jumped out of the shuttle and walked back to our hotel... 3.2 miles away. It made for some good memories.

Here's a pic from where we sat at the Georgia game. Bad seats make for great pictures!!

And just to make your day, I leave you with a picture of a car that was right in front of me this afternoon as I was driving home from work...

Go Hogs... beat Auburn!

The Story of My Big Green Wall

When G and I moved into our new house this summer, I knew I had to have some color on my walls. I mean... I've been deprived for a while now with apartment white, so I decided to go drastic.

And I mean drastic...

After adding sofa covers and a few decorations, I've really grown to love my two green walls!

I was left with the problem, however, of a huge green wall over my sofa with nothing to hang on it. Actually, I was OK with nothing on it, but Greg kept complaining that the room didn't look finished. (Yes, I am just as shocked as you are that he even noticed.) But I wasn't going to hang just anything up...

If you can't tell by now, I'm a sucker for original art and homemade stuff. I just idolize crafty people who make everything themselves! So I knew I wanted something unique to fill my big green space.

Well, I found this window pane at the Flying Dog in Fayetteville with Nellie. Silly me forgot to take a "before pic" before I started working on it, but lets just say it was covered in fabric about like this:

http://mrsblandings.blogspot.com/2008_02_01_archive.html

So after finding some fabric scraps from a local store, my new window pane was transformed into this...!

And it looks perfect next to my favorite thing of all time...

Ahhh... Mr. and Mrs. can both be happy again.

a message to Uncle Greg

I came down to Benton last night for some family birthday celebrations. Greg didn't get to come though because he took the Bar (for practice) this morning. So my sweet niece left him this message...



Sweetest thing ever... I know.

Birthday Wishes

Just want everyone to know that today is my mom's birthday. She was born on this day September 22, 1979... ahem. :) This month was also my sister, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and grandmother's birthday month as well. I love you all very much and hope you have a wonderful year. God could not have blessed me with a better family!