Let us pause for a moment of Erin...

This Thursday was our end of the year field trip. For the past three years now, I have taken my First Graders on a guided hike through Giant City State Park's trail. I absolutley love this field trip! It is a science based (favorite subject) trip that also gets them outdoors (Bonus!). Every year the kids get really into it (and let's face it, so do I!). Well let me tell you, every year it is quite an adventure in some way or another. For those of you who don't know, when you take off somewhere with 30 kids, there is bound to be some kind of drama tangled in with the excitement. As we begin our day, we must start out with one of the main activities on this day's list...the hour bus ride to the park. Now if you are one of these people who likes to think while they ride along somewhere and enjoy to hear the wind blow through the windows of your car and can really get some peace...don't... I repeat... DON'T ride a school bus ANYWHERE! :) I have quite a few ...

So I will admit that there has been alot of stress going on with me this week. Now that I am getting older, when I becomed stressed, my body turns against me! Just when I need it the most to battle the fight of "getting down on yourself", my body joins forces with the stress and really test me. I find that when I becomed stressed all kinds of illnesses just pop up. Anyone who knows me at all knows that when I am stressed or nervous my stomach turns against me. After my knee surgery in highschool, it seems to also flare up when the stress hits. And as a kid when grown-ups always said their head hurt, and we kids never believed them.....BELIEVE them! When the tension hits home, the head aches as well. I don't know exactly when my body joined forces with stress, but I have to say I don't like it much. The other real problem for me is the fact that stress seems to have this magical power of impatience. Here was my battle yesterday. I had bought some Uppercase L...

This Tuesday my family suffered a great loss. My grandfather (my dad's dad) passed away. For the past month or so he has been getting increasingly worse. A couple weeks ago he had half his leg amputated in attempt to keep infection from spreading in his body. He has been fighting a battle for a while now that ended this week. It has been a tough situation, and I know it will be even tougher Friday at the funeral. Pray for strength for myself as well as my entire family. My grandma and grandpa Williams were such a big part of mine and my brother's lives growing up. They lived a hop, skip, and jump away from us. Literally. From the time my brother could walk, he was venturing down to their house. (with or without my parents permission. There are sooo many funny stories behind that statement.) When we were growing up, we would ride our bikes up the side street beside our house, take a right onto Main Street and glide down the hill. Then a slight left and loop around our...

You know what gets on my nerves more than anything in the world??! That some people don't know the difference between fact and their own opinion. Honestly, there are more things in our lives based on our own opinions than facts. For example, I am single...fact. I have chosed this currect course in life...fact. I hope to one day find such a partnership in a man that I will want to bond my life with his....fact. Now who that man is, or what that man does to make him a man that I want to have a partnership with him, is my opinion of a great man. Do I claim that my opinion of a great man is the same as every one else??? No. Do I claim that what I think I need in a husband is the same as every one who is already married or ever will be??? No. Ladies and gentlemen, who we marry is based on our opinions and preferences. So for every one out there who has ever told a single person, you are too picky. Or...why is that important to you that he goes to church....can be a provider....

Well it's that time of year again...mowing season! I'm sure you have already noticed that once a week I find it necessary to let all my friends on facebook know that I have mowed my yard. I do this not to brag in a - look at me I'm a mighty woman that mows my yard, kind of way - but in a I survived my yard this week, kind of way. See, me and my yard have a constant battle that occurs every summer. Well, it has for the past two summers that I have lived in my house. My yard is not full of normal grass. I affectionately call my grass, Amazon grass. I call it this, because at times I feel I would make more progress if I had a Gi-normous blade that I hacked away at the grass. Can you picture what I am meaning here. I see one of those scenes from the movies about a place like the Amazon (hence the name) where the environment is just so thick with greenery and such that you must rake this huge blade back and forth in front of you in order to just walk through. When I am mowing, I...

My dear friend Rach and I have lots of long conversations about every aspect of life. We affectionately call it Patio Time. Mostly because it all started on the patio(but sometimes weather doesn't permit) and usually some of our best talks are there. We discuss everything that ever comes up in our lives. We hash out relationships, jobs, religion, and anything else that pops into our heads. When we are having "patio time" the rest of the world slips away, and there is just us. Two friends, more like soul mates, figuring out the next move we both should take in our endeavors. This weekend during some "patio time", my friend told me something that just made me fee....good, for lack of a better word. She told me that she was telling her mother that she admired me. As she was saying this, I was thinking in my head.....hmmmm...where is she going with this. What do I do that is admirable. She continued on to say that she admires the fact that no matter what i...

I don't have a child of my own. I have Sushi. Sushi is my furry companion that lives with me. Although she is a cat, she is really like my kid. Let me venture through the wonder that is Sushi with you and show you how she is my kid. Here we have little baby Sushi. She fit into Nick's hands. Sooo tiny! First off, Sushi is as loyal to me as a child is to their mother. Sushi only likes me. (Actually she likes my mom too. And is fond of being around my dad. But no one else really) When others are around she puts up on a tough face. This is really because she is jealous that others are taking up her mother's time. She wants it to be just us in the house...together. She will fight others for my affection. Just ask some of my friends, she has been a warrior more than once in my honor. That's my girl! She also treats my house like a child. I can hardly walk around this house without tripping over one of her toys she has drug out into EVERY room of the house. S...