Happy Weekend!! Mega Millions Jackpot...

While I was getting ready to head out the door this morning, the headline story on Good Morning America was "How to Win the Lottery". They had experts (even some people that have won the lottery like 7 times!) giving advice on how to win.  One guy (the one that had 7 wins) said "DO NOT DO POWERPLAY! YOU NEVER WITH WITH THAT!"....the other woman sitting next to him won doing power play with ONE ticket! So I thought to myself...which technique is right?  Then, I said to myself..............Self................They both won, so duh.... both must work!!

The idea of being a "Mega"Millionaire lingered in my mind all day.  So after school, I went to run errands and just HAD to get a ticket! Well...two, to be exact. I had to try both winning strategies after all if I was serious about becoming a millionairess.  So I got my powerplay & then strategically selected my numbers.....05 (the month we were married) 28 (the day we were married) 10 (the year we were married (2010) 21 (my birthday), 30 (Jason's birthday), & 2 (number of years we were married). I think that was all of the numbers I chose...anyway...I technically already broke the "rules" that lotto 7 guy stated on GMA today. He said to use consectutive numbers...so I guess I'm doomed to lose, which should not be a surprise since I only have a one and quadrupal million gazillion chance of winning.

Then I got to thinking...what would I do if I actually did win?? Well...I could probably go on for days & days, but I made a top ten list of things I would do with my money if I were so lucky....

1. Tithe (That should always be number one-no matter where your money comes from)
2. Pay off all of our debt, my parents, & Jason's Parent's house/cars etc.
3. Take a dream vacation with Jason (probably the Bahamas, NYC, & back to Vegas.)
4. Adopt children.
5. Set up a scholarship fund in our names at Gurdon High School, Lafayette County High School, Bradley High School, UACCH, SAU, & most importantly...UAM.
6. Random acts of kindness-leaving $100 bills for people that work hard, are honest, and nice people (like the lady that works at the gas station, who has been on her feet for 10 hours straight, is a single mother of three, and greeted me with a smile on her face and wished me good luck!)
7. Give money to couples that are having trouble conceiving to use for IVF or adoption, whichever they need!
8. Buy Jason everything on his wish list like a new fancy boat, lots of guns, a rolex, big black new truck, fishing stuff, and put a big fat English Bull dog in the seat of the boat with a big read bow around it.
9. I'd gather up all of my good girl friends & my mom and go back to NYC on a dream shopping trip to buy anything we wanted.
10. Design my dream house (with my dream car in the garage) which is a good size, but not huge, just snazzy... (including swimming pool). 

I'm sure Jason would not agree with the exact order of my choices! haha!  Have you got your golden ticket?!!!

Spring Cleaning, cooking, & crafting!

This has been the best week for us! After recovering from my cold/sinus infection last weekend, I was finally able to enjoy a few days this week with my hubby. Even though the week was filled with Dr's appointments, we were able to squeeze in some rest, relaxation, spring cleaning, cooking, & crafting!

The big item that was on our agenda was working on Jason's storage room. It was definitely one of those rooms that was just a total male storage room & has been neglected ever since the day we moved in.

Here is a before pic.

The horrible lime green and checkered wallpaper that was halfway coming down...

It looks like it's snowing from all of the dust off of the floor & after sanding the wall.

Here is after! Sorry about the snow picture, dust was still flying!

Now that's it's all cleaned out, Jason is going to build a fancy shelving system, complete with storage for our car washing supplies, fishing, & golf stuff. I'll have to post another pic once we get it all finished & organized, but at least we were able to clean it out & throw a bunch of things away.

We also worked in the yard on Friday & I started potting flowers for the patio. I still haven't found a patio set that works yet, but it really did look so great with what little effort & money we had put into it so far. I was so happy with the outcome. That night, we went to watch a panther baseball game & when we got home, our sweet little Wiley has completey destroyed the biggest pot I had. Dirt was ALL over the patio & I was sick. So...I relocated my flowers to the front porch & plan on saving it all for whenever I get my patio set & we decide to stake Wiley.

I also crafted quite a bit. Here are a few of my newest projects.  I also have them listed at my etsy shop (Just Add Sparkle).  For all of my blogger friends, I am doing a 20% off promo code this week (Expires April 1st). Just type SPRING12 into the coupon code box to receive 20% off your entire order!

As you can see, we've been really busy around our house this week! I've had several ask about our Dr.'s appointments this week.  Several were just routine check ups & eye appointments, but there were two big ones that we were both nervous about. Jason's yearly checkup to test his blood levels, blood pressure, & cholesterol (which we still have not heard back from about, but are still praying for good news from that!).  And my appointment ....

First, I must say I have definitely felt the prayers this week! I have gotten cards, texts, & such sweet phone calls and each one has meant so much. 

Ever since I was a little girl, I have always dreamed of the day I would be a wife & a mother. God has blessed me with such a Godly man in my life and he is a wonderful husband to me.  On Halloween day 2010, just five months after being married, we decided that we were ready to try to start a family.

I really expected it to happen almost immediately.  I have so many friends that weren't trying or as soon as they decided to, it happened, so I just assumed the same would happen for me.  Also, Jason's brother & his wife have been trying to have a baby for over 5 years now.  She has been through everything and they got back the diagnosis "unexplained fertility", but they have started a new "plan" to try this year.  She has been such a great support for me and helped me so much with getting through this.  I guess I thought that since they had had so much trouble, that we wouldn't.  What are the odds of both couples in our family going through the same ordeal?  I thought I was ready, but still prayed that God knew what timing was right for us & was patient. I tried not to focus on it and just enjoyed our first year of marriage.  With that, it felt like everyone around me was having babies.  I know some of you have been in my shoes before.  At church, every woman in the Sunday school class across the hall was pregnant.  Kids I worked with had babies.  My friends from high school & college were all having babies.  It felt like every week I was buying a baby gift or seeing a new ultrasound picture on facebook.  I was so happy for all of my friends!! But at the same time, I just had to ask God what was going on with me.

By this last October, it was time to go back to the doctor for my yearly & by this point, it had been almost one year since we decided to try for a baby.  I was so nervous the morning of my appointment. My mom went with me and the whole way there I was a nervous wreck!  I had no idea what she would say or what I had to do. I was so scared.  When I went in, the Dr. told me I was young and not to panic. She gave me instructions to start getting serious, start tracking, & keep a calendar and to report back to her in 6 months.  I couldn't believe she wasn't doing anything! I was so frustrated, but decided to do what she said and keep praying to God to keep us in his will. 

I went home & bought an ovulation kit and got a smiley face the first day I tried it. I was estatic!!! Things were headed in the right direction. I honestly felt that God was working and I just knew it would work and we would be able to tell our family at Christmas (& all of you around valentines day! :) October went by and it didn't work.  Then November...Then December...By the holidays I was very discouraged and decided to take a break for a month or two and just enjoy my time off of work. 

Fast forward to now. Last Thursday, Jason & I went back for our follow up appointment. I have been praying about this ever since my last appointment and hoped I would be going in for my first appointment to see hear my baby's heartbeat by this point.  This visit was much different than the last. I really felt at peace going into the appointment.  I was calm and so thankful to have Jason there with me.  We went in together and talked with the Dr. She gave us a plan and ran some tests.  I'm also scheduled for more tests that I will most likely do in April or May.

I really feel that God has placed so many special angels in my life.  The week before my appointment, a friend of ours had told me she had had a dream about us & that we were expecting our first baby.  She also said that we were wonderful parents! Even though I have probably mentioned to her about wanting a family, she had no idea about our appointment the next week. I just cried and cried when I got home. I told her about our appointment and found out she had went through a very similar situation. Her story was so inspiring to me and it meant so much to hear what she went through to have her "miracle baby". 

I know God has the same thing planned for us. I know this is an incredibly long post, but I just wanted to fill in all of our friends about what's been going on. I thought it was definitely time to blog about this. I hope that by keeping a blog record of our progress, it will help build us a prayer team to surround our baby with God's love. I really believe in the power of prayer and I think we need all we can get! I also think it would be good to show our baby one day what all we went through to conceive to show how special he/she is to us, even before it was born. 

Please keep us (& Jason's brother & sis in law) in your prayers. I just know that I will have good news to share soon!! 

Start to Spring Break!

This is how my spring break started off this weekend....

Using my Netipot! If you have never tried this, you don't know what you are missing. I used it last year for the first time and it worked really well. I'm not sure whether or not the sickness had run it's course or it really worked, but I felt better within a day or two. It is the strangest feeling ever...not the most pleasant experience, but once it's over, you're glad you did it.

I've been sick since last Sunday, so I am trying anything and EVERYTHING to feel better to enjoy my break (what few days I get this week.)

Here are just a few of my remedies. I have tried all of these!

 Jason has been a great nurse this weekend bringing me soup, icees, and ice cream. He also helped around the house and has been making drug store runs to get an arm load full of OTC necessities to get me through the weekend. I'm hoping one day soon, this will run it's course.

Our plans for the week? I plan on working some, but Jason has finishing lures & golf greens on his agenda. 

Here he is getting all the rods ready to go out on the water.

He is so excited to have a break and some time this week to spend with his friends and enjoying his favorite hobbies. Maci is excited about having her mom and dad around a lot more this week. She has lots planned for the week too! She just hasn't been generous enough to fill us in on them though :)

On a more serious note, Jason and I would like to ask you all to say a prayer for us this week. We both have doctors appointments this week. Jason goes in for his annual to get his blood work done and we are hoping to get good news to see that his cholesterol and blood pressure are down. He's also been very tired lately and we are concerned about that too. I have two appointments as well and am nervous about one in particular. Please remember us in your prayers this week. We know God has his hand over us, but it still doesn't make the doctors visits any more pleasant. Hopefully next week I will have good news to share! 

Until then, enjoy your spring breaks everyone (if you get a break that is)! I will try my best to take pics of all of our things we do over the break to share in my next blog posting.

Jimmy Buffett Concert

This last Thursday & Friday, Jason & I got to get away to go to Little Rock to see Jimmy Buffett. Jason loves Jimmy Buffett & we have eaten at several of his restaraunts & his sister Lu lu's restaraunts & loved them!  About a month ago, right after the concert dates were announced, Channel 7-KATV had a facebook contest for viewers to log on and answer a trivia question to win tickets. I did-just because I knew Jason would love to go see him. Over 3,000 people entered the contest & I won 1 out of 5 of the sets of tickets they were giving away! I was so surprised & excited since I never win anything & tried my hardest to keep it a surprise from Jason, but finally wound up telling him on his birthday about my prize. He was thrilled! Booked us a hotel room down town and we just made a min-vacation out of it. We had the BEST time and we both needed a vacation.

I know what you are thinking....what about Maci? 

Well, we left her with my mom and dad for the night. It was her first overnight sleep over. And it just so happens that she got a new "cousin" this week named Brady.  Mom & Dad rescued a new little dog that is part shih tzu & maltese. He is so adorable! I hate I forgot to get a pic of the two of them together, but we are going up next weekend to help my parents move into their new house, so I'll try my best to snap a few pics of them playing together. Brady was very jealous of Maci & followed her every where she went!

Here is a little treat pail that we made him & filled it with treats & a squishy football for him to welcome him to the family.

Here is our letter we got in the mail this week from KATV! 

Maci climbed up on the table with her "overnight bag" (which consisted of three of her monkey babies, a hair brush, rubber bands, & hair bows.)

I started gathering up everything and loading the car up and laid her two things by the front door and when I came back in I saw her standing there ready to go to Grandma's house! I just had to snap this pic & share. It melted my heart!

We really had great seats, although they were in the handi cap section (please refrain from jokes!)

It was really actually nice because we had tons of room a rail to prop our feet on, didn't have tons of drunk people dancing on top of us & spilling beer, were close to the bathrooms, and it almost felt like we had "special" backstage passes! We got to see a lot of things that I never noticed at concerts like small computer screens with lyrics so they don't forget the words! lol  We have decided that the Handi cap section was the way to go!

Friday, we woke up & visited the Clinton Library. It was Jason's first time going and he loved it! It was my third time to go and tour and each time I go I learn something new. I love visiting! If you have never been, you must go!

Here we are in front of the Oval Office

Stats about the country during Clinton's tenure.

All of these stats really make me wish his name was on the Ballot again this fall :(

Busy day in the life of the President! This was so interesting to read about his days in the White House & how each minute of his day was scheduled.

Letter from Whoopi Goldberg

Letter from JFK Jr. before he died.

Overall we had a fantastic time at the Clinton library! Thank you KATV for the tickets. Ironically, as we were walking through the metal detectors at the library, I saw KATV's Meteorologist Barry Brandt!  I admit that I was slightly star struck, since I have watched him on TV ever since I was a little girl. He is just adorable!  I really wanted to get a picture with him, but never saw him again after we made it through security :(. He probably would have thought I was crazy, but it was definitely one of the high lights of my day! At least we got a laugh out of it....

Catching up...February recap

I have been so behind with blog posts lately. February was a whirl wind month for us. Jason was busy coaching basketball and I had several financial aid events planned for work.  I am so thankful that February is OVER! 

I thought I would share a few fun pics of what we did do in February.  The weekend before Valentines day, we kept Makynzie, our friends TJ & Merina's little girl, so they could go out on a date for Valentines Day. We loved getting to spend time with this sweet little girl! And she loves taking pictures, crafting, & cooking (just like I do) so that makes for a pretty fun blog post!

First, we went grocery shopping & got stuff to make her favorite foods, pizza & cookies! Because she did so good in Wal-mart, she got a prize-a jewelry making kit! Once we got home, Jason & Mak began designing jewelry together. Here are some of the pics I snapped!

I had no idea my hubby was such a great Jewelry designer! haha!

Picking out the perfect beads...

The finished product.

Modeling my necklace Makynzie made me.  She said it would "go with anything" & that I "could wear it everyday!"

Making our homemade pizzas.

Makynzie made an "m" with polka dots around it with her baby pepperonis

Makynzie also helped me bake some yummy cookies for dessert. Licking the spoon is the best part!

Getting ready to test out the finished product...as you can see, Maci is hiding under the table scavenging for food, hoping Makynzie will drop her a pepperoni.

We had a great night baking & crafting with Makynzie. I am so thankful to have such great friends that will share their precious daughter with us. It brought back a lot of memories of things that I used to do with my mom and it really made me think about how ready I am to have my own little girl to bake with and craft with one day!