Heber Springs Tournament

 We got up Saturday morning and decided to do a little sight-seeing in Little Rock.  Beau and Evan loved the hotel breakfast:)

 We walked down to a trolley stop and got on.  It was SO cool!  It took us all over downtown Little Rock.  It even went over the river bridge.  The driver narrated everything as we went.  It was quite the history lesson.

 Nana, Beau Beau, and Evan:)

 After that, we headed on out to Heber Springs.  We were there early, so we found an awesome place and had BBQ for lunch.  Then we happened to find a little cupcake shop.  We stopped and had some amazing gourmet cupcakes!!  Evan couldn't get over how good the vanilla icing was.

 The ball field had a really nice playground.  Beau and I spent a lot of time between games there:)

 My ballplayer!!

 Sweet brothers.

 Notice a theme??  Beau is pretty crazy about Evan!!

 It was REALLY hot on Sunday afternoon.  The boys chilled out between games!

 They played amazingly awesome, got the first seed, and WON the whole tournament!!

 It was a great weekend of baseball!

 One of the funnest parts....getting measured for their championship rings!!  Instead of trophies they get rings for winning;)

 We stopped at Firehouse in Russelleville for some supper.  These were 2 dirty and exhausted boys!!

Had to get home because the next morning Beau was having his tonsils removed!!

Pre-Op & Trap Shooting!

 This week we got our propane tank on the grill refilled and officially had our first grilled meal of the season!  These veggies were amazing!  I predict a lot of this in our future!

 I took Beau to have his pre-op blood work done for his tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy he is having next Monday.  He was SO brave.  He picked a finger and let her prick it and get blood and never even flinched.  So, we went to Chick-fil-A to celebrate:)

 Ev had practice at the cages again.

 Friday morning we got up early and headed to Jacksonville for Blake's trap shooting regional competition.  The weather couldn't have been more perfect!  Nonnie, Poppy, and Nana met us there to watch also.

Here is Blake's team ready to go!

 They each shoot 25 rounds and move to 5 different stations.

Blake was the squad leader.  This is just before they shot!

 Blake shot 14/25.  Not his personal best, but not too shabby either!!

They had lots of different activities set up.  Everyone had to go try out the BB guns and the archery station.  Evan and Lathan trying to out do each other:)

 Beau couldn't quite pull it back by himself:)  He loved the BB guns!

 They all had to fish for a little while, too.  Beau can really cast!!

 It was a fun morning.  After we finished, we all went to Corino's in North Little Rock for lunch.  Blake headed back to Greenwood with Nonnie and Poppy because he had his 5 hour "meat grinder" at Kuk Sool the next day!  Nana, Travis, Evan, Beau, and I checked into our hotel in Little Rock.  Evan was playing in a tournament in Heber Springs the next day, so we decided to just stay put and head there the next morning!

St. Louis & Ardmore!

 The weekend of April 25-27 was crazy for us!  Evan had a baseball tournament in Ardmore, OK and Blake had a Kuk Sool Won tournament in St. Louis, MO.  So, we had to divide and conquer!  Travis, Evan, Beau, Nana, & Papa went to Ardmore, and Nonnie, Poppy, Blake, and I went to St. Louis.

We left Friday morning in Poppy's big new truck for St. Louis!

 We stopped in Joplin for some lunch at Red Lobster.  Nonnie & Poppy are getting the hang of the "selfie" :)

 We got to St. Louis late Friday afternoon and got checked into the hotel.  Then we met the Moy's at a Mexican restaurant near the hotel for dinner.

 We were up bright and early the next morning for the tournament!  Blake had to be there at 8:30 for check-in.  Here is Blake's fan club!!

 Blake with Nonnie & Poppy.

 Turns out, Blake's division didn't start until almost 2:30, so we sat and watched for a LONG time!!!

 When he finally got to compete, he did great!!  His form, techniques, bong spins, and sparring were all excellent!

 Unfortunately, the panel of judges that he happened to get, had a differing opinion on an etiquette issue, than what Blake's instructor teaches.  So they counted off 0.2 each for his "breech of etiquette" when he bowed in.  So frustrating, since that has absolutely nothing to do with technique or ability to do the required elements correctly, but it still counted against him.

 They told him if it hadn't been for that, he would have medaled in at least 1, and maybe 2 areas.  Oh well, live and learn!  And he really looked so great!  Below, in his sparring gear:)  He looks tough!

 After the tournament, we headed downtown for our annual post-tournament dinner at The Spaghetti Factory.  We had a lot of trouble finding a park.  Poppy's new truck is pretty big, and not easy to park in small parking spots or lots.  But, after Nonnie guided him in, we eventually found a place:)

 And dinner was delicious.  Such a cool, fun place to eat. 

 We knew the weather was going to get bad the next day, so we got up early and headed back to Greenwood!

In the meantime, Evan was playing ball like crazy in Ardmore.  They were playing against major teams, so it was some tough competition.  They lost there first 2 games, won the 3rd, & then lost the 4th.  It sounds like it was a lot of fun, and a good experience!  There were almost 60 teams in Evan's age division!!

After a whole lot of storm dodging, they finally made it home around midnight Sunday night.  The weather is Arkansas was truly deadly that night.  A tornado ripped through the state and killed 16 people that night.  I was never so glad in my life to get all my peeps together under one roof! 

No More Training Wheels & Quiz Bowl

 We have big news around here!  Beau has learned to ride his bike without training wheels!!  The bad news is, his legs now look like this:(

Evan had batting practice at the batting cages and instead of throwing rocks in the creek, Beau and his friends decided to take a swim;)  It was really warm, and they were having so much fun, so I just let him do it!!

 Evan was on the 5th grade Quiz Bowl team from East Pointe.  Nonnie, Poppy, Nana, and I all went to watch him compete!

 We all rode the bus to lunch!

 Evan and his buds...Jonathan and Tatum.  Unfortunately, they got beat by Westwood in the quarter final round, but they played well and it was super fun to watch!

Now we've gotta get ready for a CRAZY busy weekend!!

Happy Easter ~ Part 2

Travis, Blake, and Poppy all sang in the choir on Easter morning, so we didn't get any pics of us all together before church.  

These 2 looked so handsome!

 He looks so grown up.  Makes me proud.

 And my other 2 cuties!!

 Just doesn't get much cuter than that sweet smile!

 The guys had to sing during both services, so we all went to the first service, then took some pics, and the rest of us went home to get lunch ready. 

 The whole fam!

It was an absolutely gorgeous day!!

 Precious people right here.

 Our lunch was delicous!  Ham, hashbrown casserole, asparagus, fruit salad, deviled eggs, homemade rolls, strawberry pie, and lemon ice box pie!!

 After lunch we did lots of egg hiding and finding!  Beau loved it!!

 Then we all took turns napping on the couch.  It was a perfect Easter afternoon!