The Pond

Jonathan and I took the dogs for a walk around the pond on Monday evening. He hit a huge growth spurt over the last month. I had to buy new jeans and new tennis shoes. It looks like has also outgrown his bike!

Backyard Fun

This morning was uneventful. Almost lazy. We were having Stake Conference, so our church service didn't start until 10:00 a.m. That meant we scored an extra hour this morning.

Returning from church, I drove down our alley. Only I found that I couldn't get to my driveway, because there was a tree blocking the alley. Worst part was, it was my tree! Fred was standing out in the middle of the alley disgusted. We didn't own a chainsaw this morning. Although, by this evening, we were the proud new owners of one. Since we didn't have a chainsaw, he had to use a really small electric saw on each of the limbs. One by one, he sawed.

We just built this fence last memorial day... poor thing wasn't even a year old.

Sweet Dreams

This is what Jonathan looks like right now! Too bad that is my side of the bed he is sleeping on. I guess Jonathan has had a long day. I'm not sure how I'm going to get him in HIS bed.

Don't ask me what he is wearing? I left to take Jessie to a Youth Fireside at church. While Jess was at church, I was going to do the grocery shopping. The boys were getting haircuts, making a trip to Game Stop and Blockbuster along with dinner and dessert. My only request was that Jonathan shower and change out of his Martial Arts attire. After coming home and finding Jonathan in a navy blue shirt and black pants, I realized that I should have laid out his clothes for him.

Fred and Jonathan made it to Game Stop and Blockbuster. They also managed to swing into Sonic for some dinner and a little sweet treat. As you can see from the length of Jonathan's curls, they didn't quite find enough time for a hair cut. I can keep gelling and scrunching Jonathan's curly hair, but I'm not sure what Fred is going to do with his!

The Lord Thinks It Is Time

Yesterday during church, I was called to the Bishop’s office. That can never be good. I asked if I had done something wrong. I kept thinking that Bishop Taylor had noticed that the Fortenberry’s are perpetually late for church. I felt sure that I was going to be taken to task for our continued tardiness.

Turns out I was completely wrong. I was there to be released from my calling as a Primary Teacher. Since I joined the church, I have spent most of my time in Primary. That is where my comfort zone is. Now I will be heading to Relief Society with the big girls. I’m nervous... I feel like a young girl entering middle school. Will I have any friends? Will I have to sit on the back row by myself? And, oh please don’t let them call on me. I know the Primary lessons by heart, but good grief don’t ask me an adult question. What will I do with my hands? They aren’t used to being empty. I usually have little ones climbing on me and hugging me. And, I always have at least one on my lap.

I accepted my new calling and smiled at our Bishop. I was upbeat, but he must have sensed my apprehension. He told me that the Lord thinks it is time for a change. I need to go to Relief Society now. If I’m not quite sure what to do with myself, he assured me that I could help the moms who still have their little ones with them. Couldn’t that be my new calling… Hugger of Toddlers in Relief Society?

As you might know, I’m not a big fan of change. I have worked at Nouveau for almost 14 years. My car was 10 years old when I finally let it go. We have been living in our “starter house” for the last 12 years. I guess that is why the Bishop repeatedly told me that the Lord thinks it is time for a change. I mean, you really can’t argue with the Lord, right?

Bless His Pea-Pickin' Heart

Bad Weather Day
Jonathan has had a hard time controlling his temper lately. Self Control and patience are two things that we say in our house all the time. Saturday we were driving home and he became really agitated. He told us that Mr. Smolka (his principal) had announced that Monday was going to be a bad weather day, but that they still had to come to school. He was so angry. He said "I can't believe there is going to be bad weather and they are making us come to school anyway." We tried to explain to him that Monday was scheduled as a bad weather make-up day. I tried to assure him that we were not expecting any bad weather on Monday.

Sister Friendly
One of the women at church dresses up in a big apron, crazy glasses, a wild wig and a hat and comes to Primary to visit the kids. She calls herself Sister Friendly and she discusses stories from a church magazine called the Friend. It is an awesome concept, because Jonathan has started reading the Friend. Before, he had no interest in reading it on his own.

We arrived at church late on Easter Sunday and there were tons of people. We stood out in the hallway with a bunch of other people. Jonathan pulled out the new Friend and asked me if I knew which article he was supposed to read for Sharing Time. We happened to be standing next to Sister Sivley who dresses as Sister Friendly each week. I told Jonathan that he should ask Sister Sively if she knew because I felt sure that she had the hook-up with Sister Friendly. Sister Sively answered his questions and he was happy to know which article to read. Then I saw him go over to have a more in-depth conversation with her. He leaned over to her and said "Can you ask Sister Friendly to call on me in Sharing Time? She never calls on me." He was so proud after church to let me know that Sister Friendly had called on him.

Bless his heart... even the 4 year olds in my class know that Sister Friendly is really little Hannah's mom!

Bond Family Easter

We spent Saturday with my Mom's side of the family. We always have so much fun at our Annual Bond Family Easter Extravaganza! We had a pinata and egg hunts for both the kids and the adults. This year we had confetti eggs that you could bust over someone. That was definitely the highlight of the 2009 celebration. We will have to bring those back for 2010. We celebrated in Greenville at my cousin Tammy's home. She and her family (Randy and baby Cheyanne) were very gracious hosts. Especially since we made a HUGE mess with the confetti egg wars!

(Note: descriptions for the pictures below are located under the image.)

Jessie and Jonathan in their coordinating Easter attire. I was pretty sneaky... I helped them pick out their shirts without letting them know that I was making them match.

Grandma and Jessie.

Auntie Jan getting her workout. She is taking Grandma out so that she can watch the kids hunt eggs.


Randy's niece, Klacey. She and Jess became instant friends.

Jonathan is getting ready for the hunt. Looking pretty handsome, I might add.

MaMaw watching the activity.

Sweet little Cheyanne.

Jonathan, Christopher, Jonathan, Klacey, Jessie and Cheyanne.
My kids were excited to have other kids to hang with. We were so glad that Randy's family was included.

Jonathan has a confetti egg. If I had to guess, I would say that Auntie Jan was the intended target.

Easter Bunny Pinata.

Aunt Judy and her grandbaby, Cheyanne.

Grandma couldn't participate in the adult Easter Egg Hunt. Jonathan was going to hunt for her. This picture shows her giving Jonathan advice on his strategy. Her exact words were "Get 'em all!"

Grandma

I think this goes down as the most successful Easter celebration. We had a wonderful time. Jackie, Sue, Corey, Lucy and Jeff... we missed you!

Easter Morning

Here the kids are all ready for church. Don't worry, Mollie didn't go with us.

Here is their Easter basket! I think the Easter Bunny was very kind this year.

Easter with the Simmons' Family

Right after church, we headed over to Plano to spend Easter with Fred's sister, Kristin and her sweet family. We had a wonderful time. The dinner was delicious. We feasted on grilled chicken, pork chops, potato casserole, corn on the cob, deviled eggs and homemade bread.

The kids decorated the cutest little Easter cupcakes. Kaitlin (age 11), Jessie (age 12) and Kylie (age 5) did most of the decorating. Jonathan is like me - he doesn't like frosting. His just had sprinkles on it - no frosting.

(above: Jessie, Kylie and Kaitlin)

After they decorated their cupcakes, they started working on coloring eggs. Jonathan and Chris (age 13) were much slower than the girls.

While the kids were coloring Easter eggs, Lauren (age 16) and Kristin were preparing/tasting the deviled eggs (see below). There were four types of deviled eggs. One was made with salad shrimp and one had crab meat. I had no idea that there were so many different types of deviled eggs!

After dinner, we went outside for the annual Easter Egg Hunt. I am so glad that all of the kids still participate in the hunt. I'm also glad that they ALL (even the boys) still use their matching Easter baskets.

Below is the group picture. We line the cousins up every year and take a group shot. My how time flies! The Simmons' moved to Texas in the summer of 1997. They were so little when we took the first group shot. Jessie would have been around 20 months old with Chris a year older and Kaitlin a year younger. Jonathan and Kylie weren't even in the first pictures!

Kristin and Glen: we had a great day. Thanks for the wonderful meal and the fun festivities. We will host next year. We love you!

Adventures in Atlanta

I had the opportunity to travel to Atlanta for a Walmart meeting. My younger brother, Jeff, is stationed nearby. So, as you can imagine, I was very excited.

Day 1 - Thursday, April 2
Thursday was spent traveling to Atlanta. They were late boarding our plane and then we sat on the runway. We arrived in Atlanta tired and hungry. We were staying downtown, so we were able to walk to a restaurant for dinner around 6:30 p.m. We decided to try Ted's Montana Grill (owned by Ted Turner) because one of the guys we traveled with is all about red meat. We were waiting on our table and I started feeling a little odd. I remember leaning against the wall. The next thing I knew everything was black. Apparently my head bobbed over on a co-worker's shoulder. She thought I was being silly and then they realized that my eyes were glazed over and not focusing on anything. I had locked my knees, so they did a karate chop on the back of my legs and pushed me down into a sitting position. I had passed out standing up with my eyes open. I have never passed out or been with anyone who passed out. I was thankful it wasn't more dramatic. I'm not sure if it was an inner ear problem or low blood sugar (we had skipped lunch). I was very embarrassed and it was discussed over and over during our trip. They told me that I had to call Fred and let him know what happened. His words to me were "What do they want me to do about it?" RUDE, RUDE, RUDE - I tell you!

Day 2 - Friday, April 3
We spent the day doing Walmart store visits. That evening Jeff and his fiance, Emma, came out to visit me. They had a two hour drive and they didn't get into Atlanta until 7:30. There was a huge high school volleyball tournament going on, so every place was packed. We wanted to eat at Hard Rock Cafe, but the wait was too long. We ended up at Hooters because they could take us immediately. I have never eaten at Hooters, so Jeff really got a kick out of it. I just wanted to add some material to those poor girls' shorts. We had a wonderful visit and stayed there for close to 3 hours! I finally made them leave because the drive was so long and Jeff had to play TAPS at a funeral the next day. Jeff and Emma, thanks for a wonderful visit. I miss you.

Day 3 - Saturday, April 4

Saturday was spent setting up our booth at the Walmart doctor's meeting. After we finished setting up, we were lucky enough to do some sight-seeing. We walked around Olympic Park. Went inside the CNN building and had lunch - we didn't take the tour, though. Then we went to the Coca-Cola Museum. Parts of the museum were kind of silly and not worth the $15 that it cost to get in. Some of it was geared towards children. There is a room where you can sample Coke products from around the world. That was interesting. I was a cautious taster.

The next room was the most glorious place ever. I found the room where they had tons of fountain drinks. I hadn't had a sip of Coke since May 8, 2005. I used to be a hard-core Coke drinker. With shaking hands, I grabbed a cup and filled it halfway with Coke. Aahhh! It was the best thing I have tasted in years. I filled up my cup two more times deciding that it was okay for me to have Coke in the Coke Museum. Coke is truly the nectar of the gods. I was a little worried that I might have fallen off the wagon and I would start hitting the sauce again. I'm happy to report that I haven't touched a Coke since.


Day 4 - Sunday, April 5
Nothing exciting on Sunday. We worked the booth all day and visited with the Walmart doctor's.

Day 5 - Monday, April 6
The Supplier Fair continued and we spent some time in their General Session where we heard Lee Scott (former Walmart CEO) speak among others. Everything wrapped up around 2:00 p.m. and then we had to tear down our booth.

Later that evening, we wrapped up the trip by visiting the world's largest aquarium. Walmart hosted a dinner at the Georgia Aquarium. There were 3 whale sharks and 1 beluga whale - among many other huge fish tanks. (In 2010 they are adding a Dolphin tank.)

Other than the unfortunate fainting spell, it was a great trip that seemed almost like a vacation.

Beluga Whale

Whale Shark