Bring on the Ugly!!!

Tonight will be our annual Grover Girl Ugly Ornament Exchange which, of course, is also a contest. (We are only competitive when it comes to having/being/doing something sucky.) I am going to win, and when i do, i will post the pics of the monstrosity that is my ornament. Just to give you an idea, I've posted a few pics of some past doozies.


Yes, that's right. One of his legs is 2 inches longer than the other!






Who doesn't want a strawberry with measle-covered twig legs and a pearl necklace on their tree?







The only rules are that it has to be store-bought, and it has to be hung on your tree every year of your natural life! Our trees are getting pretty ugly, people!

Dear Christmas,
Please leave. I am tired of you already. Good day I said good day!!!!
Liz Pabst

This is Amy.

She is one of the sweetest most determined gals I know. When she asked if we could have a little get together to celebrate the A she made on her college final I of course said yes.





She reminds me that I can always reach a little higher and do a little better and I am lucky she likes being my friend almost as much as I like being hers.






This is most of Pack 732.


They are rowdy, fun, energetic little guys who I get to work with in the Cub Scouting program. Jared and I were able, with generous help from other leaders and parents, to travel with them into Houston to lay Christmas wreaths on headstones in the Veteran's cemetary. I felt the spirit so strong as I watched these eager little boys traipse through the mud in the rain laying evergreen wreaths beneath the names of selfless heroes. They did it with huge smiles on their faces. My kids and Sarah's kids even got to lay a wreath on their Papaw's grave. It was a really great experience.

This is Aunt Lisa.


She would do absolutely anything for anyone including me and so I was eager to help when she asked me if I knew how to stain cabinets. (Even though the answer was no) So Jared gave me a little crash course (okay, I was eating cookies while he gave Jen a crash course) and me and Faith and Jen trekked up to Austin to see what we could manage.

When we got there the cabinets looked like this:

Twelve hours, a midnight run to Wal-mart, another to the hardware store, six attempts on an "inconspicuos" inside part of a cabinet, 25 iced oatmeal cookies, 6 liters of coke, 25 times sending the dog out of the kitchen for eating the stain, 122 m&ms, a lasagna, one minor pants-sticking episode and an entire can of easy cheese (that one was all me) later,

the cabinets looked like this.

Good times. Now I need a nap!

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The kids had a great time on our one before mentioned snow day building








this guy






Here's Faith, Matthew and Madison after giving a stellar performance in their schools rendition of Wizard of Oz. They were munchkins











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And this was my view this morning as I stretched on my driveway after a run. It was beautiful.