Year in Review

For a few days now I have been wondering what to write about to share with all of you! And the best thing I have come up with is to jot down a few things that has happend to Todd and I during this year. So hear goes...however I might miss some things!


In March, we became Aunt Paige and Uncle Todd for the first "offical" time!! Logan Alan Walls was born on the greenest day of the year, St Patricks Day. He is a ball of joy and I just love him like crazy. Logan is 9 months now and crawling everywhere. He loves to play ball and kicks the ball with his left foot. Hum, Todd is excited about the lefthanded business...time will tell.

Todd's brother, Shane, finally proposed to his girlfriend, Rachael, on December 30th!!! Yeah we are going to have a wedding in May 2007!! We are so excited! Rachael is such a nice, caring, smart, fun, pretty person! Congratulations to Shane and Rachael! We can't wait!

Todd and I are still playing co-ed Softball and Volleyball. Now, let me remind you that I haven't played softball in 5 or 6 years, so this was a challenge for me. But after a few games I figured out how to watch the ball hit the bat and how to point with my shoulder to throw the ball. Practice is helpful!! And Todd plays basketball and men's softball. Todd has also mastered ping pong, however my Dad can still beat him. hehe. Also this year we got out our tennis rackets again for a couple of games (it's only been 4 years). We played doubles with the Schmickles and we lost some and won some. The tennis game was fun and boy are we out of shape. Our goals for 2007 is to get back into shape so we can play tennis for 8 hours and still be able to walk off the courts.

We took a road trip with Dana and Teresa Frederick to Kansas. That was pretty fun. We first headed to the casino in Kansas City. I learned how to play blackjack. I don't think I lost any money, but I sure didn't win any. However Todd, Dana, and Teresa had better luck, they all left with more....or maybe Todd's winnings evened out my loss. (??) We enjoyed eating at the Arthur Bryants at the casino. Boy did we get a lot of food for 10 bucks. wow! In Kansas we saw where Dana grew up. We celebrated his brothers 30th bday and got to meet his family and his brothers friends. Always entertaining...those Fredericks! Good times!

We also headed down to Nashville to see Todd's best friend Jason get married to a beautiful girl, Amanda. We got to hang with the whole gang, eat, and relax. We shopped some, but mainly did all the wedding stuff. On the way back to MO we detoured to see one of my friends in Arkansas, Michelle. She had lunch for us and Todd was able to take a short nap while Michelle and I caught up on lost time! It was a wonderful trip that ended at my parents house for dinner, then to Springfield to sleep. It was great to get to see everyone and to break up the long drive! The free food was good too. :)

We have join Glendale Christian Church in November after attending the church for about 9 months. This is awesome, because Todd and I have not been members of the same church. And what a blessing God has given us, a friendship with wonderful people at GCC! We love our Young Married Sunday School Class. A big group of God trusting couples striving to do what God calls them to do. However our Sunday School class is not just a class on Sunday morning, it is so much more than that. All the wonderful couples in this class are basically our best friends. We hang out with them during the week. Have girl parties and guy parties. We do community service projects, and accountability groups. What a blessing to be involved in a church were you can laugh and grow as a Christian and not be judged but be encouraged. Thank you GCC family!

This year we had Season Passes to Silver Dollar City. And boy did we use them!! I think we went 5 times. It's fun seeing how they change that place from one event to the next.

My parents had our family Branson Condo Weekends again!! Twice this year. The first trip Logan was 2 months old. The last trip he moved a lot more and we had to really watch what he got into (Thanksgiving weekend). These family retreats/relaxing weekends are filled with love and food. We shopped and shopped and fought off traffic. We headed down to the Landing and waited 2 hours to eat at Joe's Crab Shack. Eventhough we have lots of fun and we are constantly doing something we always have time to just laugh and share with eachother. I love the trips with my family. It makes me feel young again!! I think the beach is in order for next year!! (please Dad can we go!! pretty please!)

Family Pig Roast. Parents had an auction. We finished our family cabin! We survived one more year with just one car!! Trips to Cabool to see family and friends! Birthday dinners with the Fergusons. Blogging started.

The year didn't stop there but my lunch break sure did. Thanks for reading!

Happy New Year!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Christmas is just around the corner. Only 5 days left. Is your shopping done? Are your stockings hung? Are your plans squared away? Are your Christmas cookies and candies ready to be eaten? It's Christmas time!! Don't forget with all the crazy drivers and gift buying and packed schedules, to take time with the Lord and thank him for begining this wonderful season. Without God sending His Son, the time of the year would not exsist. Read the story for the 50th time and pull something different from it. Sing the carols with a smile on your face. And just remember that someone is going to open their heart to Christ this season, and it just might be because of you! Now that is something to celebrate!

Our plans:
Todd and I have finished shopping and all the presents are wrapped under our 3' tree...or should I say beside our 3' tree. Our traveling plans are set. Oh yes we are traveling, not too far away, but it's always scary being on the road around the holidays. Saturday night we will start our Christmas adventures by driving to Fort Scott, Kansas. This is where Todd's family is from (the Budy family...pronounced Booty...oh yeah). We are going to stay the night with his cool cousins, Jeremy and Amy and their cute kid, Dominick. Then we will have Christmas Eve lunch with the Budy's! Yum yum. After fun family time and lots of food (of course) we will head back to Missouri for Christmas in Cabool. The tradition (same every year and this year is no exception) is to go to the Cabool Second Baptist Church for the candlelight Christmas service and then head over to Grandma Mac's for Christmas Eve Dinner. Then Todd and I will stay at my parents house and wake up Christmas Morning to have our (just the 2 of us) Christmas. Then we will exchange gifts with my family and have breakfast (of course after Santa has already visited Logan at their house, a new tradition for the Walls' is starting). This will be awesome b/c it's the first Christmas with Logan!! Then after breakfast, Todd and I will be on the road again heading to Walnut Grove for the Ferguson Christmas and lunch. And I'm pretty sure after lunch and gifts we will all crash and hang out. And of course play with all the fun toys we get.

Please pray for safety on the road for Todd and I. Also my brother and his family (Rance, Elizabeth, & Logan) will be traveling to Kentucky, so please pray for their safety as well. We will be praying for your Christmas and your safety. God Bless!

Christmas Survey about the one and only Paige

Your Name: Paige
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate ? Hot Chocolate with marshmellows
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa doesn't have wrapping paper. His presents are too big. But if he does have wrapping paper it is brown like paper bag paper.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? I love white lights. However a few people can pull of the mix of colored lights and make it look good.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? YES, from my dog's reindeer antler.
5. When do you put your decorations up? Always after Thanksgiving. I mean do you not understand that it is still pretty fall and pumpkins and leaves are the theme until the harvest. After Thanksgiving, the evergreens and red & greens start to appear.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Oh my goodness, so many to choose from. I will go with my husbands least favorite and my top favorite...stuffing!
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: Ok great story...got a minute? It is Christmas morning and us kids (Rance, me and Crystal) and Mom & Dad are opening gifts. My folks give us cash sometimes b/c we would go shopping the day after Christmas in Spfld (big trip back in the day). I put all my cash in a little box on a table beside where I was opening presents. It came time to clean up and throw away all the wrapping paper and take all your goodies to your room. I was going through my stuff about an hour after clean up time and I couldn't find my little box of cash. AHH I freaked. And so did my Parents. Boy were they steaming. Well lucky for us Dad had already taken the trash to the big dumpster at my Mom's Business. So guess were Mom and I headed? Yeap! I crawled in the dumpster and started ripping open trashbags, looking for a small little box. The bumpster luckily dosen't smell it just has broken glass and paint all over it. And guess what, I didn't find the box of money. I was bawling my eyes out. We went back home and I looked through the trash can in the kitchen and I found that stupid little box of cash. Yeap I found it! By this time I felt like a total loser. Needless to say, I have learned my lesson and it is the laugh every Christmas, when cash is given.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I don't remember, however I didn't want my parents to know that I knew, just in case Santa would "stop" coming.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? We have Christmas every Christmas Eve with Grandma Mac. So yes we open presents.
10. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it!!!
11. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? CHOCOLATE PIE, anything pumpkin
12. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Exchanging gifts. all the smiles and laughs.
13. What tops your tree? I have an angel with a harp on my little 3' tree.
14. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving? Giving is a blast. Opening gifts is fun too.
15. Favorite Christmas memory as an adult? The first Christmas Married to Todd. Just the joy of us two opening gifts by ourselves. He bought me a pair of mudd black shoes and some black socks and I still wear them today (4 years later). I'm sure he bought me something else. But who can remember every gift.

Electricity and Beyond

How important is electricity? hum? Well let me tell you. Electricity is sooo important that it went out 3 times at work this morning and by the forth time it never came back on. Oh did I mention that was in an hour time frame. Oh yes, you get up early and go to work by 7 AM and to have the other accounting dept to come in at 8. By that time the power was not coming back on. We called the owner and said the electricity was out and it was out around our area. So he sent us home!! yeah. (And for the readers who are not around the area, let me just tell you it is nasty outside. It's cold, rainy, soon to be freezing rain, soon to be snow. And the town of Springfield looks abandoned on the streets.) Electricity is sooo important, if you don't have it and the weather is bad you get to go home from work! How awesome is that?!! Awesome I tell ya! It's like a win win situation. I'm home, I don't have to work today, and I get to spend all day with my husband curled up watching movies drinking hot chocolate!! It's just too bad we are both not feeling very well, so I'm sure we will be sleeping some too and eating chicken noodle soup (yum).

Now for the Thanksgiving celebrations from the past weekend. How awesome was Thanksgiving? The weather was beautiful. I didn't wear a coat or jacket all weekend. Us sisters went shopping on Friday and I wore a big sweater, by noon I changed...actually all us girls changed into our new shopping shirt. You might of seen it, It's red and says "naughty" on it. How great is that. The boys were proud....especially my dad. hehe The first store we went to was Kohl's. We ran around and I found a few items, then we looked for the end-of-the-line. Uh I couldn't find it. The store had every isle full of people in-line to check out. Crazy. So I called my hero Todd to see if he could get those deals online....um yes he sure could. So I dropped the merchandise and we headed out of there. We went to Sam's b/c Elizabeth had to get lots of diapers and formula for Logan. Let me just tell you there was nobody there. Maybe 20 people total shopping in Sam's. Ok that never happens. Needless to say we all found some stuff to buy there. Then we headed home for a minute to check on the guys and to unload the car, then off to Target. That was a mad house. We didn't get in any fights or see anyone fighting. It was just major crowded. After Target we headed for some lunch at Panera with the family. That is were we showed off our new shirts. I don't know why everyone kept looking at us like we were naughty or something.

Oh let me tell you about the feast of Thanksgiving at Ben's house! Holy Cow Good!!!!! Smoked Turkey, baked Ham, Mashed Taters, Gravy, Stuffing, Sweet Potato Casserole (almost like a dessert), corn, bread, cranberry stuff, pumpkin pie, and pumpkin cranberry bread. I think that was it. Next year we will get him bigger plates! Now for the Walls Thanksgiving feast which was at Branson in our condo. Turkey, stuffing, Taters, gravy, green beans, G'ma Mac's Bullhorn rolls, cheese cake, pumpkin soft cookies! Oh yeah that was good too! And the answer is NO I haven't checked the scale to see how "good" the holiday was for me! I'm not that crazy.

Well this is longer than my other blogs so I will say bye. I just figured you would have time to read this since your electricity might be out!

Happy Snow Day --- it is now sleeting.

Turkey Day

Gobble Gobble Gobble

Thanksgiving! What an exciting time! You can eat all day long and no one will look at you like a pig! Well maybe an overstuffed Turkey but not a pig...unless you eat ham instead of turkey. I can't wait to sit at the Ferguson table and eat the ever so wonderful food that Todd's Dad has prepared. Yum Yum! So Thanksgiving tradition at Todd's Dad's house is to eat till you can't fit anymore in. Then rest, then eat somemore, then hope Dad lets us take some food home!!! I think I actually married Todd b/c of his Dad's cooking abilities. I say Throwdown with Bobby Flay and Ben Ferguson. Game on!!! What a blessing!
I can't wait for Turkey Dinner!!

So my sister, Crystal and my sister-in-law, Elizabeth and me are going shopping on the biggest shopping day of the year! You guessed it on crazy people shopping day, the day after Thanksgiving. Now let me just say, I have never been shopping on this day before. But we figured we would check it out this year. Good sister fun, I say!!

Usually Thanksgiving Day is when my mom has her Open House at her store (Cleea's/Cabool Florist), and all us kiddos get to help out at the store. So the old tradition is to eat turkey lunch on Thanksgiving Day, then go open the store for all the ladies (and some men) to shop during the TD Football game. Then we crash from exhaustion at home...or at G'ma Mac's for leftovers (double yum). Then on Friday we work at the store some more. So that past forever years ago I have been doing that...and so has Todd (he's a great helper outer)! And believe it or not the time flies by and it is soo much fun to see everyone! But now, Mom has put a stop to that tradition and has her open house the week of Thanksgiving (um that starts today)!! And now our new tradition is to go to Branson and relax all weekend. Fight through the traffic (not so relaxing) and go to SDC to see all the lights. So Branson is where we will be headed after us girlz get done shopping....or at least done shopping in Springfield. hehe. Oh did I mention while the girls are shopping Todd gets to watch our perfect nephew Logan! He is stoked! I think he plan is to have fun Rockin eachother's face off!

After the holiday festivities will follow on the next blog. Hopefully that post won't take as long as this post.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Don't forget to be Thankful!

What's in the Pantry?

Have you ever looked in your pantry or like me the cabinets and noticed it's full of food but nothing that goes together? Oh yes!! Last night Todd and I decided to pull all the food out of our cabinets and the freezer and see if we can get rid of the food without buying any more. That was fun. We found some cans that expired in 2004. (Trash) We put together a calendar with our meals. Today I am eating a Heathy Choice dinner for lunch and Todd is eating some leftover fish and rice. For dinner we are having grilled chicken breast atopofsome rice. yum! We have lots of rice, lots of green beans and corn, lots of beans, lots of canned tuna and frozen fish, lots of noodles. So our goal is to eat everything we have in our house. Understand that doesn't mean we can't go shopping. We will still shop for certain items to complete a meal. For instance, we have corn, grean beans, tomato juice, and diced tomatoes for stew; but we still need to get the beef, carrots, and celery. And that meal will feed us for a week. I just love having leftovers for lunch. It reminds me of home!
I had nothing else to write about today so I wrote about food. Is it time for my frozen dinner yet???

Insulation Rebate

Does everyone know about the City Utilites Rebate on Insulation??? It's a pimp deal. If you upgrade your insulation you can get back up to $300 from CU...and that doesn't include the savings on your monthly bill!! So for all the homeowners that read this interesting blog give me a call and I will hook you up with a salesman who will estimate the job for free. If nothing else it is good to know how much insulation you have in your attic.
enough of that crap...

ok so the mouse count is at 7 killed total...one set free, but it probably made it's way back in.

if you read the Ferganator's blog you will see that we have been quite busy. So stop calling!!!! Just kidding...Poker at our house on Thursday...afterall why stop when it's fun. (ok so I am not a poet like Andy, sorry)

Carlye's baby shower is this weekend!!! oh and Andy's baby shower, but he probably won't be there...will you??? Please come to the party at Christina's it will be WONDERFUL! And I do believe Carlye's folks will be here. umm if you're from Philly are your parents called folks?? thought I would ask. Come to the shower if your not halfin' to do anything else. see you there!!