Mountain Please

We've greatly missed the mountains since we've been in Arkansas, but we did find one within a 50 mile range that fit the technical qualification - so naturally, Matt asked me on a date to go hike it! :)

At 1,011 ft. hight, Pinnacle Mountain was the best option we could find. And it turned out to be better than we originally thought. It climbs about 700 ft. in 3/4 mile (very steep) and is filled with boulders and uneven terrain. We climbed the East side (the "easy" side) fairly quickly, and rested on the top for a good snack.

Someone put a little flag in the tree - we loved it!

 Then it started raining - and when it rains, it is more like a downpour.

Naturally, we decided to try the West side (the "hard" side) on our way down. This part took us by far the longest. With my adjusting balance, a steep rocky decline, and rain making the decent extra slippery, we carefully took our time in finding a good way down.

Please excuse the blurriness - it was pouring.

We made it down safe and sound and then had a lovely walk around the base of the mountain to get back to the car. LOVED it! We were pretty wet when we finished, but were famished. So - we found a Waffle House and had second breakfast (the waffles there are tasty! - the rest . . . well, it's not IHOP).

My husband plans such great dates! :)

Independence Day

Let Freedom Ring! :) - sorry, playing catch-up a bit here :)

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free." - Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the US

What a wonderful Independence Day it was :) Matt had the day off, and though I got called in for a few hours at work, we were able to spend the morning and evening together. 


To start off, our ward and another ward met together for a lovely pancake breakfast - preceded by a flag ceremony and the Pledge of Allegiance (man have I missed reciting that!). After the flag was in proper place and tummies were filled, we all got to play around in the grass with a variety of sports balls and discs. Once it got too hot, we headed out.

After work, we headed down to the river for some festivities, patriotic music, and the fireworks of course!

The moon in the bottom R picture was as red as my shirt! We've never seen it that red before!

Baby Bump Update

This little man is definitely growing. Matt and I don't notice the change so much each day, but looking back my belly definitely is getting larger!

Supposedly the size of a head of cauliflower, our baby boy is definitely active. We love sitting and watching my stomach move as baby shifts, punches, and kicks :)

Left = 23 weeks; Right = 27 weeks

Humorous Love

Normally I don't post about the awesome dates we get to go on each week, but this one made us laugh pretty good, so I thought I would share (hopefully it's not just an inside-joke kind of thing).

Once a month I get to do the honors of asking Matt on a hott date and planning the whole excursion. I asked him via text (I know, lame - phone calls are always better), and began planning the date. For some reason that day we were pretty busy around the house and with me working, so I just planned a simple out-to-eat dinner we could take to-go and then eat at a park (with some tea candles for when it got darker).

The work of the day took much longer than planned, however, and I found myself showering and getting ready for the date around 6:30 pm. All the while, I kept telling Matt I had a hott date with a handsome man and I couldn't tell him who it was. We played on the you're-going-on-a-date-with-someone-else?-I-am-so-offended thing the whole time we were getting ready for our "respective" date(s).

Then as time drew near for our date to start (sadly, much later than I had planned), I snuck out of the apartment and rang the doorbell so I could pick up my date. :) While pretending this was a first date, I brought up the menu and we called-in an order to be picked up.

As it was later than originally planned, we felt it might be a bit unsafe to picnic at an unknown park, so I took him back to "my" place for a candle-lit dinner (gasp! so scandelous! haha).

Not quite as fancy as this - but similar

The date was super simple, but so hilarious in the role plays before and during the date :) My husband is THE best and can make any date a blast :)

It's a Cabin Love

Another celebration worth mentioning - our One-Year Anniversary! :) We decided to spend the weekend in a cabin up in northern Arkansas (by Bull Shoals Lake/Mountain Home).

The beautiful flowers Matt made me :D

So handsome! Oh, and a turtle-friend too!

Matt loves skipping rocks!

We ended up finding out later (once we got there) that the area is not a tourist attraction by any means, but is instead almost entirely a quiet retirement area (haha - oops). We did have a quiet weekend together though :)

Outside the cabin

Matt's favorite = skipping large rocks that you can see sail under the water - pretty cool to watch actually.

Oh, and when we went into town, the humane society had an open house where they were showing a bunch of their dogs who needed homes. We totally fell in love with one named Monica - an 8-year-old mutt of sorts - who was quite well trained :) Too bad we couldn't take her :(

Temple Trip

We were lucky to have the opportunity to travel with the youth in the ward to the Memphis, TN temple on early Saturday morning! A small temple, but very beautiful - and I was grateful to have the chance to help out!

That says "Tennessee" by the way

A Birthday Party Worth Aging For

. . . If I do say so myself :)

The handsome man of the house had a birthday (shout "hooray!"). Since he's into game nights and such, my gift to him was a birthday party! I invited some friends from the ward over and we played a bunch of fun games - picture scavenger hunt, sucking skittles, double-sided coloring, and don't-say-it.

The sucking skittles game was the cutest with one couple's two daughters :)

Personally, I LOVED watching the double-sided coloring game :) Each partnership had two pictures to color and only one double-sided marker. Haha - so entertaining!