Big Event pictures and Windows Live Writer

This is a test to see how my post will look with Windows Live Writer…I’m going to add some pictures to see what it’s life… Here are the Big Smith pictures…there are only about 250 more…

Big Weekend---Big Event

Well, the Big Event has come and gone and was a big success! The weekend preparation really began Thursday night. Kody, Mom, Dad, and myself loaded up 300 chairs from Mom's school and took them to the church. Luckily there were quite a few guys to help unload them and we were done with it soon. We ate lunch at Potter's Dawg House--my new favorite restaurant in WP.

Friday I took off a little early, helped Ashley load close to 60 chairs, drop them off at the church, and then met up with Courtney. We went to Colton's for dinner and decided to take along walk while the guys were at the church setting up the tent for the Big Event. We walked to the church, walked on to the square, and then came back through. We probably walked close to 5 miles and some major hills! We felt accomplished afterwards for sure. We went out to her parents house to see her kiddos and drop off some stuff for them to stay the night. Afterwards the guys were done with the tents and we met up with them for their late dinner.

Saturday I cleaned a little house and met mom and Debbie for lunch for Debbie's bday. I got to see Derek, Mindy's husband. He seemed to be doing pretty good. He gave me a hug and said they are taking things one day at a time and Madi seems to be doing ok. I was glad to see him! Afterwards we all went swimming and then met up with Kody after work. There was a Christian concert going on at the park and we headed down there. We went for a late dinner and headed home. Sunday was going to be a big day and we knew we needed rest!

Sunday--the Big Event! We got to church around 9 and helped with last minute things. I had my new camera ready to capture the day! I started snapping pictures well before the crowd came. It was a beautiful day, sunny during the morning, cloudier in the afternoon, which was a relief from the sun, and real breezy! The rain held off until late last night!

We had around 500 people for our combined community church service outside under the tent! It was awesome! Most of the chairs were full!! The sermon was neat and all 3 services had their music...our praise band, the choir, and the Open Door Worship Center's band. We anointed each other with oil, and then closed the service. Lunch was served afterwards. Everything ran very smoothly! Lunch bags were packed and really nobody waited longer than a couple of minutes.

Big Smith was awesome and we had quite the crowd for them. People started showing up around 12 for the concert. There was a ton of stuff for the kids to do, which drew a big crowd. We think there were close to 750 people there throughout the day! Hopefully we were able to spread God's word to each of them and make them feel comfortable at FUMC! It was so great to see so many church members work together to pull of this huge event!

Here's the steeple early in the morning....once I can figure out how to get these big file pictures uploaded to here I will do it!

Thankfully we had a huge crew come out to FV to unload chairs! It was done in no time and we appreciate everyone's help....I'm off for now and will try to update with pictures tomorrow!

Day 30: A Dream for the Future

I am sad this is the last day for Emily's blog journal! It has been a fun month of posts! I'm up for anything like this again!

Day 30: A Dream for the Future

My dream for the future, besides having a happy, healthy family is to some day when we retire, or maybe before to build a house in the country....on several acres, maybe around 50...75...100...build right in the middle of it, have a long white fence, driveway, and cattle in our yard! HA! Who would have ever dreamed this would be my dream?

I don't have a picture of what I want, but have it pictured very well. Long, brick ranch with a full, walkout basement. I love big kitchens, big laundry rooms, big bedrooms, and a nice big office. Hopefully we'll live a little further out than we do now, but I won't be in a rush to get places. I truly think this part of the country is God's Country and we would love to wake up each day and see the beauty all around us!

Day 29:

Day 29: Hopes, Dreams, Plans for the next 365 days!

What a fun blog prompt to think about! Let's see, this may be a complete random case of the ramblings, but I will give it my best shot...

In the next 365....

We hope to be parents of some kind...either with a baby here or on board!

We plan to have Kody's truck/motorcycle loan paid off....this should happen within the next 30 days! a year and 8 months early!

We hope Kody's career opportunities will be expanded....

We are dreaming of our basement being a great place to gather as a family...bigger tv, entertainment center, new paint, furniture, etc!

We plan on having all the trim in our house, doors, and basement painted SOON!

We're hoping to have half of my car paid off.

We're hoping to continue to make long-lasting friendships with our church family...

We're planning to continue to become heavily involved with church, it's something we both enjoy doing...and together!

We plan on taking an anniversary trip somewhere, nowhere far...just a long weekend....away!

We're dreaming about an exotic trip somewhere...but who knows?

We're planning on living in our current home, hoping we don't outgrow it too fast.

We plan on welcoming a new nephew or niece to our family...and hopefully more to spoil!

I plan to continue my job with the city and even looking into more opportunities here at city hall!

We plan to watch our families grow, friendships grow, and our marriage! The next 365 days are looking great!

Day 28: What's in my purse?

Day 28....a couple days late....

What's in my purse? Maybe the question should be, what's not in my purse?

Kind of embarrassing....

Let's see, usually I carry Vera Bradley bags. I have 2 Coach purses, Fossil bags, etc, but Vera just has great organization for my junk! This is the Vera Bradley Bowler. It has SO many great pockets and zippers. I carry the Vera Brush bag with lipstick, bandaids, dental floss, etc. in it. I carry the big Vera wallet FULL of cards, my checkbook, etc., lots of receipts are in my purse, coupons galore, my mother-in-law got me a Coach wristlet and that's my gift card keeper. I have tons of gift cards. I have my Jessica Simpson sunglasses, my awesome Seaband bracelets I wear for carsickness, Bonine tablets for carsickness, Tylenol, hand sanitizer, nail clippers, peppermints for carsickness, hydrocortizone cream for bug bites, a Boatmen's Bank mirror for my lipstick applying, chapstick, my keys, a couple of pens, granola bar or two, etc.

I am pretty sure if I got stuck somewhere for a couple of days with my purse I would be fine. I could feed myself, take care of myself if I got sick, and wash myself! HA!

Day 27: Worst Habit

Worst Habit???

Hands down biting my nails! Ugh! I wish I could get past that and sometimes I can, then I quickly slip back into it.....suggestions? I don't want to do it anymore!

Slow down!

It seems like I have only had time to do my daily posts here lately and no time for just random posts! Here we go!

I have yet to update on my last 2 weekends. My friend Jess Ladd, who was my suitmate my freshman year at SEMO, co-worker at RPDC through college, and a bridesmaid in our wedding was here almost 2 weeks ago. We had a lot of fun. She got here Saturday morning and we visited for awhile and then went to a new hot dog restaurant in town for lunch. It was soooo good to see her. She is one of the most beautiful people inside and out you will ever meet! After lunch we shopped around town for awhile and then decided to hit up the Country Club pool for a little while. We walked around the lap pool and gabbed the whole time. I miss Jess and not seeing her every day. She used to blog for awhile, but then got a new job and keeps super busy with it. The great thing about Jess is we can be away from each other for a long time and pick right up where we left off the next time we see one another. I can tell Jess things that I don't tell anyone else, she doesn't live in WP so nothing gets out! ;)

Saturday night we grilled and just sat and had drinks and food! We got to just spend quality time together! Sunday her and I stayed home while Kody went to church. We got ready and lounged around and went to El Charro's for lunch! She left after lunch. So good to see you Jess!!XOXO!

This past weekend my in-laws were in town to help us on some home projects that have been needing to get done. Back in the spring our sink backed and damaged the ceiling in the basement bedroom. Bad enough that Kody had to rip out part of the ceiling. He bought drywall not long after that but it was awhile before he could get it up. He definitely needed help and I wasn't the one to help! Between his dad and him they got up the ceiling in no time. John also cleaned off our roof, fixed a little spot up there that has leaked a little, trimmed tree limbs, helped bury a huge hole that has been in our side yard--that goes along with the sink issue, fixed a bathroom door, etc! SO much was done and we are so thankful they came and spent Thursday night through Monday with us! We enjoyed lunch at Potter's Dawg House, dinner at El Charro's, and grilling out on Sunday. We always hate to see them leave.

Kody's best friend from high school and the reason we met, Aaron Randolph came to town with his girlfriend Jess on Saturday evening. We really enjoyed seeing them. They joined us for dinner at Charro's and we just hung out at the house afterwards. It was great to see them. We hadn't seen them since our wedding 10 months ago! Aaron is a cut-up! He has sure settled down since I first met him and Kody nearly 7 years ago! Aaron is from WP and I knew him when we were much younger. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be Mrs. Thompson! His girlfriend Jess is a lot of fun too. They are both trainers and teach classes at Lindenwood. Aaron has his masters now and is currently in school for his doctorate. I'm amazed, that's great! I can't believe they both teach college classes! :) She is super cute and has a great body, I need them to come train me! Even though we went to bed really late we still got up and went to church. We passed out Big Event door hangers during Sunday School and surprisingly had a good time with that! Courtney and I did the work while Kody and Brian followed us up the street in the car. :) We met Aaron and Jess afterwards for lunch and they were on their way. That afternoon my parents came out and we grilled burgers for dinner with John and Teresa. Then my week started and now here we are almost another week over!

Next weekend we will get to see our Jackson family. :) I'm excited to see Drew! I haven't seen him since he will be a BIG BROTHER! Exciting times in the Thompson family!

It's been SO nice out this week it's hard to be inside. I have enjoyed jogs after work. Maybe I can squeeze one in tonight before we go pick up chairs. I'm amazed at how well this Big Event is turning out. I love to see everyone working together. Kody is doing great too, what an answered prayer this church has been to us and our marriage. Thank you GOD!

I continue to think multiple times a day about Derek, who was married to Mindy, my friend who passed away from cancer. I see his facebook posts about how slowly the night ticks by and they are posted at 3 am, 4 am, etc. My heart aches for him and Madi and the rest of her family. Things like that really put trivial things into perspective. Be thankful for what you have and love those you are with. That is the biggest lesson I'm trying to learn. I have seen a butterfly the past 3 nights at our house and it's so pretty, I've never seen one like this before at our house. I told Kody last night that it was Mindy. I am trying to see things throughout the day that can remind me of those who have left us. It's an easier way to deal with things.

You all have a great Friday. I'm so glad the week is nearing an end.

Day 26: My week in detail

Day 26 is all about your week in great detail. You all may get really bored with this post! I will be detailed!

Monday: Woke up and got ready for the day. Said bye to my in-laws as they had been with us since Thursday and were leaving town to go back home. Went to work by 7:30 and began working on finalizing things for my city council meeting that night. Worked until 11:30 and then took my lunch. Got back to work around 1 and finished up some little projects. Went home around 5, ate a quick dinner...which was snacks really, grapes, cantaloupe, and crackers, visited with Kody, and then headed back to town for my meeting at 6:30. My council meeting was from 7-8:45, which included closed session. Always interesting, but long! I got home around 9:30 after I talked with my partner Dixie for awhile outside. Took a shower and hit the hay!

Tuesday: Woke up and got ready for the day. Was at work by 7:30 and worked on signatures on things that had been passed the previous night by City Council. At 12 I went to my meeting at church for the Big Event. This was our last committee meeting and we are very hopeful and excited for the Big Event on Sunday. Left the meeting around 1 and thought since it was so nice out I would go to the walking park and walk for awhile. I didn't have the best shoes on, but that was ok. It was nice to clear my head and have a little time appreciating the weather and being away from it all. I headed back to work around 1:30 and got busy the rest of the afternoon. I made it home around 5 and Kody came home and he made pancakes for us. They were delicious! He's a great breakfast cook. Afterwards we were lazy! I took a long bath and read in the tub for about an hour. I went to bed early and Kody fell asleep on the couch til late. Had a big day ahead of me!

Wednesday: I got up a little earlier than normal to get ready and head to Springfield! I had a meeting and planned to do a little shopping while I was there. I purchased my new Canon T2i camera and I'm so excited about it. It was all I could do not to go sit at a park the remainder of the afternoon and play with the camera. I had a great lunch at Qdoba and headed to Republic to my meeting. It was really informative, but long. Oh well! I shopped a little more afterwards and headed home. I was home by 5:30, went for a jog/walk, and tried to mess with our new modem for internet and had no such luck. Kody worked a little late and got home around 7. We had a late dinner (for us) and grilled BBQ chicken. Yummy! That was basically our night.

Thursday: Today! It's my Mother-in-law, Teresa's birthday today! We love you and wish we were celebrating with you! Busy day! I headed to work around 7:30 and went to one of the local radio stations with our associate pastor and talked about the Big Event on air. :) I was a little nervous but it went well. Then I ran by the post office and bank, and headed north of town to the Welcome Center for our monthly Tourist Board meeting. It was a long one today and I got out of there around 12. I ran by my parents' house for a quick lunch and then went to Curves and had a really good work out! I felt great afterwards. The last 2 days I have been headache free, knock on wood, so it's been easier to work out. Tonight we are picking up chairs from the school my mom works at and taking them to church for the Big Event. We have around 300 chairs to take! We'll probably pick something up for dinner while we are out.

Friday: I will be filing away stuff from my city council meeting and making sure my desk is clean for the weekend. I hate to leave it a mess on Friday. So anything that is on it will hopefully be done by the end of the day. I have city council meeting minutes to write as well as Tourist Board minutes. Exciting stuff! Tomorrow night Kody is helping at the church put up tents for the event and I will help Ashley bring some chairs to the church too. I'm planning on spending the rest of the evening with Courtney and her kids while Brian and Kody are hard at it putting the tents up!

Saturday: I'm going to sleep in just a little and get up and clean the house! It's not too terribly bad since we've had so much company lately, but it's dusty and the floors always get dirty with the dog hair everywhere! I may go by the church and see what's going on for set-up and see if they need any help. My mom is helping in the morning and so maybe if she's done we can hang out in the afternoon. She probably will want to see my camera...ok maybe I will just want to show her! Saturday night I'm sure we'll go out to eat and just hang out. It will be a very busy weekend with the Big Event going on. We're really excited and hope to reach out to several community members who are looking for a church home.

Sunday: I really should just put Big Event day! We've planned this for awhile and we are ready to take action and get it down in the books! We are having a community church service outside under the tents at 10 am. Then we'll have kids games, inflatable games, health checks, tours of the church, booths, etc., beginning at 11. Lunch will be served at 11:30 and then Big Smith will begin playing at 1! It will be a full day for sure! We will help clean up and take the chairs back on Sunday evening. I'm sure we'll head to bed early that night.....I can already tell Monday will be difficult!

That's my week at a glance. If you read the whole thing I'm impressed! Hope everyone is having a great week!

Day 25: My Detailed Day!

Day 25! My day in great detail. :) I love details and this was a good day to remember! I wasn't just stuck at work today...

5:50 am--alarm goes off. I snooze for a couple of minutes

5:55 am--up and at it, begin make-up and hair routine

6:35 am--blow dry hair and fix it

6:40 am--wake up Kody...yes, he is capable of waking himself up, I'm just up so I can do it!

6:50 am--iron some khaki capris and a t-shirt for today

7 am--dress, shoes, brush my teeth

7:15--toast my bagel

7:20--head to work

7:45--at work and checked email....got the keys to the work car and got ready for my trip to Springfield

9:30--arrive in Springfield and head to my home away from home--Target

I shopped around Target...I like to look at everything there....yes, everything. I bought 2 bags of cotton candy off the $1 spot, LOVE this stuff and then a dinosaur for Drew--who I'll see next weekend! I had $280 worth of Target gift cards that I traded out for Visa gift cards to help purchase my new camera I got today.

10--stop in at TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Bed, Bath & Beyond, and Kirklands. I still had a Kirklands gift card from my birthday a year ago and bought a nice fall wreath that was on sale and a few crosses to sit around the house. Only owed $1.97!

After this I headed to Best Buy to purchase my new SLR camera! Ok, I'm really excited about this! I talked with the guy for awhile and then just bit the bullet. Say hello to my new little friend.... I got a Canon Rebel T2i! I have shopped around for a long time and saved last year birthday money, Christmas money, and this year's birthday money! We're set to have babies now, we can keep track of their every move....pictures & video! I think we'll still want a video camera when the time comes, but this will be great for uploading videos on the blog! Yesssss! Ok enough of the camera!

11:30--I headed to my favorite fast food restaurant, Qdoba. I ate lunch quickly and then headed to my meeting. We had a speaker who is the city attorney for Springfield and he was really informative. He talked for a long time and then we had a really long meeting. We discussed in depth the Spring Institute hospitality room, that our City Clerk division and the Southwest MO City Clerk division will host next March at our annual meeting. Exciting I know..

When the meeting was over I headed to Gordman's for a quick walk-through and then to the mall. I went to Macy's and tried on some pants, Border's, and a couple other stores in the mall and decided to head home. I got home around 5:45 and went straight for a jog. I would jog as much as I could and then walk. I did a mile worth. I've been trying to do this after work when I can. It's been such a busy 2 weeks I haven't been to Curves much. Afterward I messed with our stinkin' internet. Our modem for DSL went out and we were sent a new one, but I'm still plugged in with the ethernet cord as I type this. UGHHH!!! I hate internet problems. I called Centurylink but their server was down to do the part that I needed. Guess I will blow 30 more minutes tomorrow night.

Kody got home and opened my camera up and got it all set and ready to go. We are both excited about it. We grilled chicken...I prepped it by putting the Smokey BBQ rub on it from Pampered Chef and then Kody did the rest. I always sit outside with him while he grills. Tonight I had the camera out shooting for fun. We ate a yummy dinner, cleaned up, I showered, and now it's almost bed time!

I know I live such an exciting life...and this was an exciting day!

Day 24: Where I live--WPMO!

Day 24 is all about where you live! I posted this before on Kelly's Korner, Show Us Your Life, but here it is again for those of you who missed that!

West Plains is has a small town feel, but we are somewhat the regional hub. We're the largest town 100 miles north and south, nestled in between Jonesboro, AR and Springfield, MO. Our 2000 Census counted West Plains at 10,866. That only counts the city limits, which there has to be just as many people living out of the city limits around here, we are a very rural area. I think we'll be pleasantly surprised by our next number! At least I hope! I describe our place on the map as being the bottle middle county in Missouri on the Arkansas border. West Plains is the county seat of Howell County.

If you are arriving in town from the North you will see our Welcome Center and then City Hall on down on your left. This new, contemporary building houses my office! We have a historic downtown area that has little shops and places to eat. It has died down from what it used to be, back in the day it was the central part of the town and I believe somewhere where you could get anything you possibly might need. Here's what it used to look like.

Now you see visions of our Court House, the historic Opera House redone, which is also where we had our reception, Cafe 37 restaurant, the Red Apple Grill, two high-end boutiques, gift stores, historic buildings that are either homes, lofts, or businesses, etc.



I went through the West Plains Public School system and was a Zizzer! What's a Zizzer? ZIZZER (ZIZ'ZER) n. 1. an expert in any activity - adj. (colloq) FIRST RATE; 2. a person of the highest caliber, ability or reputation. 3. one who is victorious; (syn) A WINNER! Because to be a ZIZZER means to be the BEST at WHATEVER you do! There you have it!

Here is my elementary school, middle school, and high school.

I spent many Friday nights cheering on our hometown football team and continue to do so now that I'm a alumni! These are not good stadium shots, but you get the picture! ;)

If you do not live in town, you would go to one of the 5 rural schools, which are just as great, if not better! We live in a rural school district and will probably at some point move into another one. The rural schools house kindergarten through 8th grade and then the 9th graders go into high school. They are smaller, have more athletic opportunities, and other things for the kids.

We have a hospital and several health care facilities, we are the headquarters for Air Evac, we have several different industries in the area, a dirt track race track, a hub of Missouri State University, which is growing as we speak, and many different business!


The next two pictures are just landmark restaurants that have drive-ins, and have been in business for AGES! Suds Inn and Maid Rite, Now Dairy Princess.

My church, First United Methodist Church, it's right before you get to our downtown district.
Nestled out in the country you will find several different mills around the area, even one in Arkansas, 25 miles south of us in Mammoth Springs.



What are we lacking? A MALL, Target, and some more big chain restaurants. We have a great Wal-Mart, shopping area near there, with restaurants like Colton's Steakhouse and Grill, Ruby Tuesday, El Charro's, and also a Walgreens! I'm proud of West Plains and the growth we've seen in the last 10 years. I'm anxious for the future here and hope, just hope, someday we get a Target!

I hope you enjoyed a little tour of West Plains, ya'll come visit!