A bunch of Type A's in the Desert

Convention 2010 Awards Banquet

My husband's unique and very rewarding job gives us the opportunity to take some great trips with some great people. This year Universal American gathered their best in show to an entertaining resort in Scottsdale, Arizona. We call these trips convention because the agents and managers go to meetings in the mornings and play the rest of the day (they call it a leaders summit, so official). Anyways, I get a kick out of these trips because you really encounter some unique and new people and you also get the chance to see some quirky sides to the people you already know. Where else can your husband win a golf tournament with a guy named Bull and witness the boss's Louis Vuitton wearing wife go off to a Nascar event? She did complain about having to eat hot dogs (I love you Julie!). I also came to appreciate my friends more. Since I was still rocking the cast, my gal pal Juli actually met me at the breakfast buffet to load up my plate for me, what a gem! And my brand new and very special friend Michelle was always there to rub sunblock on me and scold me for getting in the pool with my cast on. You haven't heard the best part though, trips like these remind us that people in Arkansas really are all related somehow. A guy out of the Little Rock office left his beautiful and extremely pregnant wife at home (yes, you Mr. Matt Teeter) and brought his cousin to enjoy some golf and, from what I witnessed, many seven and sevens. After being driven out to the desert for a ranch style western night, the Teeter cousins and I came to the realization that we were in fact related (my grandmother is a Teeter too, yes, the car dealer Teeters)! All in all we had a great time with great people and best of all I got to end it with Carol dancing and Blake ending the night with a glass of water (it's cuz he was up past nine). Native Americans jumped through hoops for us (literally) and Luke ate a $50 filet in the food court. What a week?! Oh and Juli, GTS!

Good Times,
Amanda

The One Arm Bandit

As I type very slowly with one hand, I desperately miss the use of my left hand. After a week of talking it up and recruiting our pals MALEX (aka Matt and Alex Weaver) to go skating with us along with my sister Carla and her 2 kiddos, Hannah and Ethan, I dominated the rink with some sweet dance/skate moves for about an hour. I was determined to be the aunt who taught my niece and nephew to rock the wheels like I did back in the day at Bud's roller rink (you saline county folks know what I'm talking about). It wasn't until the bounce of overplayed rap music about "ipods stuck on replay" subsided into 80's power ballads that, thanks to my sister, I know all of the words to and hold so much appreciation for that I just had to serenade her with Journey's moving track "Faithfully." Little did I know, but I would sadly be associating Steve Perry's angelic voice with sheer pain and agony for the rest of my life. As a stepped backwards off the platform of carpet onto the slippery hardwoods at Starlight Skatium my sweet action speedskates failed me and slipped right out from under me. As I looked my niece Hannah in the eyes, I fell to the ground looking like a baby giraffe walking for the first time (kinda like Ryan Mallet attempting to run up the field when he can't find an open receiver, just sad) and busted my tail on the hard floor. All of my body except for one important part made it to the floor. My wrist, having a mind of it's own, decided to abandon the rest of me and stop on the elevated carpet platform. At that very moment my husband skated right by looking at me in sheer terror, knowing that when I fall I tend to make an art form of it, and before even looking at my left hand I simply yelled at him "I just broke my arm." He didn't looked that convinced until we both looked down and saw this twisted, dinted, mangled excuse of a human's wrist with a motionless hand just dangling from it like a lifeless appendage (gross I know). My sister said it looked more like a pair of pantyhose with a ball inside of it just dangling back and forth in the wind. It was then that I started seeing stars like a character on the Looney Toons and Matt Weaver caught me just before I hit the floor again, except this time with my eyes rolling in the back of my head. All I could hear were people arguing over whether or not I should lay down or sit up. After losing a few non-precious moments of my life and finding Alex Weaver's lap to be more like a sealy posturepedic , I awoke to Matt Weaver slapping my face, something I know he has always wanted to do (still unknown is why Weaver is walking with a limp after these events). Without control, I tossed my Jose's from about two hours before, splashing some on Malex, my bad. It was then that my knight in shining armor showed up at the back door with the carriage awaiting to take me to the ER. It was at the ER that I endured grueling x-rays and wonderful conscious sedation while my bones were popped back into place. I found out that my roller skating escapades may lead to surgery and definately to a poolside vacay with a nice little cast. That's what happens when you rotate a bone 60 degrees out of place...

won't let it stop me from a shopping day with the girls, percocet in hand!

me, bogging now...

Weather

Arkansas is known for having some crazy weather, but come on! Within a week we have had a foot of snow, 75 and sunny, and 45 with thunderstorms! Needless to say all of this crazy weather has made our back yard look like a mudpit, but I took the boys out to play in the snow (praying it was our last snow of the season). These were taken on the first day of spring no less. Today looks a bit more like the end of March should, sunny and cool in the morning with expected highs in the low 60s. That's more like it. Either way, my kids surely enjoyed eating snow, sometimes dirty snow...what can ya do? They're boys!

Welcome!

What's up family and friends?! I am constantly trying to catch up with friends and family 200 miles away in good 'ole Little Rock, so I figured what better way to keep our peeps caught up than with a great new blog. I will try to post pictures regularly and let all of you know what going on from time time. Our boys grow so fast and change so often, that there is definitely plenty to write about and tons of photos that we would love to share. Hope you enjoy and God Bless! Remember "In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:6