COOKING CLASSES
As many of you know (who keep up w me thru facebook), I attended a cooking class called "Holiday and Party Food II". Taught by Ms. Annie P from Annie P Goodies.... I had a blast...don't have much time to go into detail, but here are a few pictures from our class...I'll upload some more maybe after the holidays....These are just a few of my favorites...FEW ...there were many more


Pecan Tassies (right) Over the top Potatoes (left)

"Fancy Rolls"

Sugar Snaps

Craberry Pecan Cheese Cake

WHERE OH WHERE HAVE I BEEN???

Where to even start....lets see...September for us at work is a month that we would like to forget. INVENTORY and prep work for year end close out! So really that explains the lack of posting...worked late and was mainly up at NAPA during the day. But the Lord has blessed me with a good job so no complaints...lets get to where all I have been...

Last weekend in September, I went to Richton to stay with Junior & Sara and to attend the Pecan Festival...let me tell ya somethin' If you haven't been you MUST do so. Booths, arts, crafts, mule pull, old time tractors, sheep herding and anything else imaginable is there. I came home with a few items. Next year I will go prepared to Christmas shop and be done with it all by Oct!! Yep, I'm tellin you it was that much stuff there!!! I do have pictures so i'll post them later. Oh of course we ate out alot that weekend...

Along the month of September and among all this other stuff I had two great uncles (brothers in fact) pass away on the same day, so sad, but they were both sick. I got to see family I hadn't seen in a long while. Mom and her girl cousins had a little get together the weekend after both funerals and had a good time.

L to right, Belinda, Vivian, Kathy, Mom, Joy & Brenda. These are all 1st cousins. They have an agreement between them all to have a Cousin's day about once every 3 months. They said no Aunts allowed!!

Then there was the dreaded work day at the Fire station! UGH!! INVENTORY again....but i guess I got off easy. The guys had to wash almos everything that had wheels! The only thing that didn't get washed was the Recovery boat I think...

I took a trip to Monterey this past weekend to see Will, Paula, Brother and Sister (Riley & Natalee). For those of you who don't know, I lived with them while I worked in the Jena office. Will was my boss and his wife quickly became my best friend. Brother played basketball while Sister cheered him on. I'm having trouble with the computer, so I'll post those pictures later also.

I have signed up for a cooking type of class thingy with Annie P. Goodies and that begins tomorrow night. 5 weeks of fun holiday foods! Bound to cause a person to gain a few extra pounds...The class will be every Tuesday night from 6 to 9 till the week before Thanksgiving. MaYbe I'll have some new idea to contribute to Turkey day meal!

As for tonight, I'm working at the sheriff's office filling in. The house is coming along well. We have like 3/4 of the siding up but next will be a porch to keep me from getting soaked when trying to get my door open!

Hope all is well with everyone and as I get pictures to work, I'll add them along the way.

How Dirty can one lil boy get?!?!?

Colten 9/5/2009

Yes, we did determine something is NOT NORMAL!
This was what I did all this weekend...EMT refresher class...24 hour class shoved into a 2 and a half day period.... I'm to tired to type anymore..oh and we won't mention the 2am call I got this morning! Did i mention I was tired?!?!

Mission Trip 2009

We all pulled out Sunday, survived what could have been a bad accident on 55, and made it to our destination. We were greeted by some very nice church members of the Bogue Chitto Baptist Church and we were greeted with a SPREAD of food to top it all off!!!

After fellowship and eating, we went to our "home away from home" for the week. The Bogue Chitto Boys and Girls Club (gym). The kids loved it there..along with some of the adults. Jennifer was in heaven since she has no where out here to play basketball.

Monday started out rough, the VBS bus was like an hour late getting the kids to the church, but we managed to make the most of the bad start...on Monday we had 50 something kids, Unsure of how many on Tuesday, but Wed and Thur we had aroud 87 -90 kids for VBS!! How awesome is that?!?!?

This was my first mission trip, and I promise you it will not be my last!!! Blessings were received by all...Teachers, students, construction workers, preachers...it was amazing to see how the Lord had his hand on each one of us...

Jennifer and I worked with the 5th & 6th graders...if we had the room for them, they would have all came home with us!! We had one accept Christ on Wednesday and then get this...5 more on Thursday!!! Jennifer put it straighforward to them...No hold bars...they had a choice Heaven or Hell and that we wanted them with us!! We were both in tears when we looked up to see 5 of our students going w Bro. Marvin Thursday!! And to top it off, Thurday Jennifer and I had to head home...talk about leaving on a high...Knowing our students made this major life step...I have actually talked to one of the girls via text and Jennifer has another student or two, so staying in touch is something we plan on doing!!

I can't put into words just how much that trip meant to me...All I know is the Lord touched me and worked in my own heart as much as he did theirs!

We made some great friends...in fact some are talking about coming down in September to stay at the dorm that our church has for the weekend...I'm already wanting to see them!! There is actually talk about going back next year and doing their VBS again...I hope to be able to go and would love for Cheyenne to go and help as well...

I'm attaching the link to my pictures that I've uploaded thru face book...it was just too many to pick a few from to attach on this post.... Enjoy!!!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=288884&id=771890082&saved#/album.php?aid=288884&id=771890082 (construction pictures)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=288884&id=771890082&saved#/album.php?aid=288343&id=771890082 (VBS pictures)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=288884&id=771890082&saved#/album.php?aid=288811&id=771890082 (our downtime pictures)

Baby Caden Bruce Ellis is here.. Born Wed weighs 5 lbs 7 oz...18" long...baby and mom are well...

Can we say a dirty little boy? Do you care to guess who the feet and legs belong to?

That's right Cole! He's been w us this weekend. Saturday Tara and I took her 2 boys and Cole to the river. Couldn't have asked for a better child. I think maybe once I had to get on him.

The dirty feet and legs are from Sunday. I think the only time he had on shoes or flip flops was while he was at church! He has had a blast this weekend and goes back to Brandy tomorrow...

New adventure.
Please be thinking about myself and some of our church members that are going to Philadelphia the week of July 19-25th. We are doing a mission trip. We will go to the Reservation up there and do a VBS with approximately 80 to 100 children and also doing some repairs to some of their buildings.

This is my first mission trip of any kind, so I'm really glad it's only a few hours away especially since Bridget is close to her due date and having a few issues. This is also if I'm not mistaken the first mission trip our church has done in a long while.

Please say a prayer for traveling grace and the trip as a whole.

Let's play where have we been and what have we done?!?!

Here's what we've been up to:

July 3rd

Girls night out w Tara, Wendy and myself...two of my best friends in the whole world!

I spent July 4th at the River & pavillion with the Sullivan group (after I went and got my siding), then at home with the family for the evening.

Chris rented a cabin in Osyka @ Alford's Lake...very nice and peaceful. He, Bridget, the 2 boys and myself spent Sunday and Monday down there They boys and I had a good time. Lots of trails to ride. I recommend it but just at a cooler time of the year.

For laughs and kicks this week, I let Jennifer foil my hair....her daughter Aubren just laughed at me as we were sitting and waiting...one friend refered to me as a redneck antenna...thanks Carlos!

Cole just had to go fishing with his Papo and Junior this past weekend. Saturday they got up about 6:30 and away they went...Daddy said about mid morning they looked back and this is what they saw.

Little man got sunburned on top of falling asleep and knocking MY hat he had on into the lake. And they only caught 1 or 2 fish.

I know he had an awesome time and didn't quit talking about it!

& All God's people said "Amen"!

On Wed I got a call from Cheyenne's VBS teacher telling me she had accepted the Lord! This did not come as a shock. Cheyenne and I had went the night before to put some flowers on our precious Brandi's (Runnels) grave and she had a million questions on the way home. Believe me, I am not the best at explaining things like this. I answered most of her questions to the best of my ability and I think she understood what I was trying to tell her.

She spoke w/ her VBS teacher at length that day and then with Bro. Marvin and this was what we did Sunday. We just happeded to have family in from Georgia that were also there to witness this wonderful part of Cheyenne's life. Please pray for her as she ventures into this new journey of her life.

I'M NOT MISSING!!!

I'm letting everyone know that if I disappear, have no fear... I've gone to Hawaii, gotten arrested, jumped bail, and I'm hiding in a shack waiting for this hunk to come get me!!

I've never been on to get obsessed with a star or actor, but Duane Lee Jr from Dog Bounty Hunter has caught my eye. I think it's the rough, good guy look that melts my heart...ahhh....Guess I better start planning my arrest!!

Oh Baby bellies!!!

Bridget & her sister in law Samantha. Both obviously drank the water!! Bridget is carrying baby BOY- Caden Bruce and Samantha is carrying baby GIRL (I'm unsure of the name right now). Bridget is due in Aug...which I've told her if we make July 15 I'll be surprised! Samantha is due in September.

Stay tuned for more pictures...and baby info!

Yay! yay! Chris is home!
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone

Here they come..the terrible twos!!

Two years ago, after working a page where a guy had attempted to overdose and "put my lights out", I get a telephone call about 12:45 am that says "yea, where are you?" My response was "leaving the fire station..what's up?", she says "yea, um...can you come take me to the hospital? My water broke about an hour ago, but I knew you were on a call.." of course my answer was "An hour ago?!? why didn't you call sooner, I'll be right there."

I get there we get the car loaded, get Mom and Dad to come stay with Colby and away we go..Now, here is how organized Bridget was...the car was on EMPTY.. so to Fenns we go (since they have the 24 hr pumps) & grab Jennifer Ezell on the way. We finally made it to the hospital about 2:30ish I think. Chris was sick with a cold, had had taken way too much Nyquil. Bridget had actually called him when her water broke and all he said was ok... Knowing he was sick & had taken the medicine, she didn't say anymore. At about 5 I think Chris called and asked was he dreaming or did Bridget really call and say her water had broke. Then he was somewhere in TN working I think. So on the road he got. It was already planned that if Chris couldn't get there in time I would go in the delivery room with her. Which I did and LOVED every minute of it even though the Dr kept trying to pull a sheet up where I couldn't see!

Well here we are two years later and this is the outcome...one very lovable, blond hair, blue eyed, loves to be outside, hates to say he love you, will take a baseball bat to his brother, is as big as the big boys, loves is Mamo & Mommy beyond belief little boy!

Happy Birthday Colten!


I wouldn't trade any amount of money for those memories I made and will continue to make being your Aunt Chonda!!

Now how will baby Caden make his appearance?!? As eventful as Colten? Stay tuned, time is getting closer!

Parents

Sometimes I sit & wonder how my life would be if I had a child. What kind of parent would I be? Then I wonder about some of the people in this world that have kids and ask my self how could anyone mistreat them.

When I was younger, I babysat for a family or two, and looking back, I feel @ times I was a little harsh on the kids, but I never had any trouble out of them & honestly, they all turned out to be GREAT kids. I like to think I had a "LITTLE" part in some of that.

Saturday as I was sitting at Colby's ballgame, I looked around, and saw this:Jamie & Dakota...Jamie had been off working and when it came time to go back to Nebraska for work, said he couldn't leave the family...and i mean 3 boys and 1 girl

Matt & Hunter... Matt works nights on Friday and then drives in so he's here for Hunter's game on Saturdays.

Then there is a mommy Hi-fiving her little boy. This is Joy and Spencer. Spencer was born a premi and stayed many weeks in the hospital. Joy has worked with him and other than his size, you would never know he was born way early and was way little. Joy has made sure he could do just what he desires to do and more!

I know Cheyenne & the boys will tell you, they know not to get too far out of line when I'm around. I was brought up to respect my parents as well as other adults (as we get to be adults you make your own decisions on some people), I knew that being drugged was something good (as in drug to church, drug to ball games, drug to family reunions), I also knew that when I grew up I wanted to love my children just as I was loved by my own parents and those that have taken me in as their own.

Thank you all for the blessings you each show me every time I see you with your children...

T-ball is in full swing..

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6867870&l=85661be3a6&id=771890082
click on the link for Colby's latest t-ball pictures...Well, honestly Aunt Chonda should be shot. I think there are more of Spencer Bowman on here than Colby...Sorry Colby!!

Summer is here! Which means plenty of baseball and river time!

Saturday I spent my time in a pool, @ the baseball field then @ the river...here are just a few shots from the day

Sam Cowart

Casey Zimmerman

Jayden Foster

Babby Cooper Foster

Colten the future t-ball player!

Sunday was a GREAT DAY!!

Sunday was a great day... first of all, my friend Richie Spring preached @ church while Bro. Marvin was doing an Emmaus walk. He done a WONDERFUL job. So good, I went back and listened to him that evening.. but in between church services, Jake Petty had a birthday party. Jake is the son of Dustie & Kenneth Petty.

Dustie and I became good friends when I was dating Festus (dustie's brother), but I feel our friendship grew over the next few years as we found strength in each other to face the fact that we would lose our Precious Momma Joann to a disease that in the end would have her passing from cancer. Being around for Dustie, her family and her children is something I hope to do and keep doing long into the future. I refer to Jake and Zack as my nephews not by blood, but by love..

Happy Birthday Jake! I love you!