A time for reflection...

Many new, but for those who did not, One of my Uncles recently passed away.

Tim was such a great man. When I was younger, him and I had a very close relationship. In some ways he was like a big brother, in other ways, like a second father figure. He will be greatly missed. After 3 years of a lot of pain and suffering, his battle with cancer is finally over. With my understanding of the scriptures, I know he is in a far better place.

The picture below is of Justin and Tim last summer at the lake. They were being funny and trying to reinact the seen from RV (with Robin Williams) with the "HOSE SPREADER".

The same week Tim passed, I had two other Uncles and a cousin go into the hospital. One with a stroke, the other for sugery to remove his spleen and the top of his pancreas.  My cousin was in sever motorcyle accident coming home from work. He is still in the hospital, stable yet in broken shape. The doctors have said he is lucky to be alive. 

Needless to say, the passed week or so has been a very emotional and reflective time for me. I have thought long and hard about the all men (immediate and extended family members) in my life and just how blessed I am. (I am sure you can tell by some of my most recent post.) I am so greatful for each and everyone one of them. I love them all very much, including those special ladies in my life too. It doesn't get much more important than family. And I am greatful to my Mom for instilling that in me from a very early age.

It's a hamster! Not a rat!

This is Lucy. The newest addition to our home. 

She is a very cute and friendly hamster. 

Emma and Grace just love her. And so does Tucker! 

He likes to get up on the chair and watch her run on her wheel. 

The kind of Son parents pray to raise.

Justin is an amazing son to his parents. He is the kind of son parents pray for. He is obedient, extremely intelligent, trust worthy, forgiving, Christ serving, loving and very generous. He is also the kind of son who never asks, wants or expects a handout and never takes his parents for granted.

Here are some examples of just how great he is...

• Justin served a mission for the church when he was 19 years old. To show responsibility and to lighten the burden on his parents, he worked and saved up to pay for his mission clothes, bike and other things needed for his mission.
• Never got in trouble with the law.
• Has never drank or smoked.
• Became an Eagle Scout at age 14. He would have gotten it a little earlier but he was also active with the Masons at the same time. 
• Married in the Temple / church.
• Is a responsible parent to his kids.

Here is a picture of Justin recently serving his parents.

The guy next to Justin is one of our Superintendents / Project Managers that works for us. Both guys worked extremely hard all day gutting Justin's parents kitchen to get it ready for a remodel. 

Bob and Melanie are blessed parents to have a son like Justin. And I am so grateful to be the lucky girl he chose to give his heart too! 

Could I get some fancy foot wear to go with that?

You bet! Here you go....

Justin has been having some pains in his stomach area for about the past year now. After multiple doctor's visits and many test and medications, nothing seemed to be working. They could not find the problem. So a scope down the throat was needed. Justin got some really fancy socks and a super nice blue shirt out of it.

Woo Hoo! All of Justin's fashion dreams have now been full filled!

Doesn't he look so excited??? He just could not contain himself! So much so, they had to sedate him. :)

Turns out...the lining in his stomach has been compromised. (Stomach lining has a raw spot on it.) With 2 different kinds of medication for 6 weeks, he should be all better.

If you build it, they will come!

Girls Camp 2011 has come and gone again. This year, this was our theme...

I am the Brandon Stake Girls Camp Director. I absolutely LOVE my calling. It allows me to work with some really amazing women and spend a week with some super great young women.  I feel so blessed to be trusted by the Lord to help spiritual mold his children. We spend a week with the girls doing spiritually fun stuff.

This year for the YCL's, I thought it would be a great experience to take them on an airboat ride. The girls had some much fun and really got to see just how beautiful Florida's nature is. 



One of our activities was to build a cake based on a story from the Old Testament. The cakes turned out so good. Here is a picture of 3 of the cakes.

Noah's Ark , Jonah and the Whale & The Garden of Eden

The girls are also given the opportunity to get on the shooting range. Wow can some of the girls shoot! I am so impressed. We talk about protection, not only from a physical stand point but from a spiritual side as well. Thanks to Justin, my father-in-law Bob, and Al Russo for always helping with this activity. It is a highlight of the week.


For our service project, we built this...

On the last night of camp, this is what I got out of the shower to find.... my bunk had been attached by caution tape!


Here is a picture of the entire group! I am so lucky to get to know all of our Stakes Young Women! I just love them!

Twister!

March was a tuff weather month for our area of Florida. We had odd weather and lots of rain. This included...

But ours was no movie! It was the REAL DEAL. The tornado touched down about 5 miles from our house. Here is a picture and a short movie clip....

This USE to be a fruit market stand

Here is a video clip of us driving through the hit area with in about 20 minutes of it touching down. It was just coincidence that we drove through that day.

Happy 12th Anniversary!

Justin and I celebrated our 12th Wedding Anniversary. We are lucky people to have found each other.

A few things I love about Justin....

He is kind

a gentleman

loving father

hard worker

has an amazing testimony of Jesus Christ

smart

liked by others

not selfish

puts up with me

and loves me

Thanks Skeeter for all you do. You are a GREAT man!

Justin and I celebrated our anniversary at one of our favorite places on Earth......Disney!

The above picture is of a gift from a friend. She is very creative and thoughtful. It was so cute I had a hard time allowing it to be used.

Grace goes to "Cracker Country"....

Grace got to go to "Cracker Country" this year for her 2nd grade field trip.

Here she is making a candle from Bee's wax.

And here is a class picture. May I say, Grace's teacher "ROCKS"!!! Grace LOVES her!

Strawberries....Yummy! Yummy!

A big THANK YOU to our friend who allowed us to indulge! We picked, ate, cut, ate, canned and ate strawberries until our bellies were full. Man I love this time of the year in Florida!

NEW vehicle to us.

We have been talking about purchasing a SUV (with the 3rd row) for a while. We really needed a vehicle that would carry more people. I so dislike having to take more than one vehicle when extended family members go somewhere with us.

Considering this was going to be a 3rd vehicle we bought used. We have been looking for a while (because I am picky and CHEAP) and with much searching & waiting we FINALLY found this....

 

It was an older man who owned it and could no longer drive real well. It has been taken good care of and is fully loaded with low miles. We got it for $3,000+ less than what most used ones are going for. Anyone who knows me knows I love a great deal. My first thought was it was too good to be true. It turned out to be an answer to our prayers. We went and looked at it and the the biggest thing it needed was a set of new tires. It does have leather seating, which most people would love, but not me. I am going to have the seats recovered with cloth. Leather in Florida, to me, makes for a hot, slippery and sweaty seat.

With gas prices back on the rise, our Carolla is still our favorite car! :)

One year older and wiser too!

Justin had a birthday! I love it when Justin or the girls have birthdays. I love planning fun stuff and shopping for birthday surprises.

So for Justin birthday this year he got more Pilot lessons and a new flight instructor. :)

Justin has been taking pilot lessons. Bank in November, the guy he was taking them from left the company to be a full time private pilot. So lessons had been on hold for Justin. Well.....not any more. He is back flying. I found another instructor that he likes just as much as the other one. He is also learning to take off and land on a grass field. This is a little more difficult and challenging and Justin is loving every minute of it.

Here is a picture of Justin getting ready to fly. He is going through all the pre-flight stuff.

Justin's goal is to someday have his own plane. Not for sure how I feel about this just yet. It's a scary thought.

Happy Birthday Justin! I hope to celebrate MANY more with you.

Cakes, Cakes, and MORE Cakes!

In January, I did 3 wedding cakes. They are fun to do, but I am always a nervous wreck.....I am so afraid they won't taste good or the will turn out ugly. This is why they are done at no charge. :)

1st Place at the Science Fair

This was the first year a science project was due at the Stalker house. We attended a "Science Fair" information class held at the school, then picked our topic and then begin work.

AND GUESS WHAT???????...... Emma won first place over all the other 4th graders. She was so excited and we were so proud of her. She worked really hard on the project. And believe it or not, it was kinda fun!

Congratulations Emma!!! You are awesome!

Here is Emma with a few other kids from her school who went to Districts too after winning at school level.

Emma, you are awesome and just so "d-a-r-n" cute!!!!

A Christmas Cruise

This year for Christmas we went on a Cruise with some of our favorite people! We love this family so much and truly enjoy spending every moment we get with them. They are AWESOME!

The cruise took us to 3 different countries ( Belize, Honduras and Mexico) and to the Florida Keys. We had a great time and are looking forward to our next cruise in October.

There were so many pictures I put them on a slide show. Enjoy!

Big Apple!

No TURKEY for Thanksgiving this year! We had an APPLE! A BIG Apple. We went to New York. We had such a wonderful time. We went to all the tourist hot spots and even did some shopping too. Some of my family from Kentucky were part of a 4H group that was in NYC the same time we were. This allowed us to spend some time with them. Watching the Macy's day parade with them was a highlight.

Some other highlights... 
     Girls playing on the big floor piano at FAO Schwarz
     Going to the Tiffany Store and buying a few things
     Dylan's Candy Shop
     Eating a hot dog on the street
     Riding in a subway
     Statue of Liberty
     Memorial for the World Trade Centers
     Going to Harlem!  
Yep! That is right....we got off on the wrong stop and ended up in Harlem. It took us a couple of blocks to realize what we had done. Then a nice lady approached us to help guide us back to the subway. Apparently she could tell we were in the wrong area. :) But believe it or not Harlem was one of the cleanest areas we saw.

Here are some pictures to show our fun...

Another Blessed day

Grace got baptized on October 5, 2010. We are so excited and proud of her decision. She is a young lady who is amazingly spiritually strong. It was such a beautiful day. Many friends and family camp to see this very special occasion. The room was FULL.

We love you Grace! You are a sweet daughter of Heavenly Father. We are so glad to be the one's raising you for him.

Famous for the day!

Hollywood Studios for the day! We had a great time and the kids were involved in everything! And when I say the kids......I mean Justin too. :)

Rodeo Drive!

 Doing a little Hulla Hooping!

Here is Justin in a pretend movie. It was Pearl Harbor.

And of course... the Stalker family with their favorite monster!

A little summer vacation.....

We had not been to Kentucky for a while so this summer it was at the top of our "MUST DO" list. May I say We had a blast! We decided to fly into Lexington this time. It truly is beautiful horse country. Another cool thing about Lexington is this castle. It was once rumored to be built by Lee Majors (The Fall Guy) an actor from the 80's, who was building it for Farrah Faucet. That was just a rumor from fairy tail land. It was really built by a wealthy developer for his new bride. They had traveled to Europe for their honeymoon. She fell in love with the castles so Mr. Martin (the wealthy developer) built her one.
The homes are so beautiful.


One thing we did this time was go to "Dale Hollow Lake" and go camping and cruise the lake. We had SOOOOOOO much fun. We had a picnic on the lake and the girls got to do some tubing. My cousins even got to ski. Emma wanted to but her feet were too small for the ski's.

After the lake we drove over to my Aunt Sue and Uncle Malcolm's house. It was so nice getting to visit with them. My Uncle is amazing cook and has many cook books from all over. My Aunt was born with a green thumb and has plants that I could never imagine so big. I really enjoyed spending time with them.

That same day we took the girls to the ferry. This is the only working free ferry in the State of Kentucky.

Here is a slide show of the fun!