Thanksgiving in Virginia

We spent Thanksgiving at my grandads house in Virginia this year. It was such a great trip....save the one lesson we learned: Always try and get direct flights with kids if at all possible!!! A and I have flown a lot of times but have always been on a direct flight. Believe me, your sanity is worth a little more money!!!

I hope these next pictures don't seem too morbid. They were taken in Lexington, Virginia where a lot of my family is buried including my grandmother (dad's mom) She always said she wanted to be buried there because she thought it was the prettiest place on earth.The church on the sight is so neat. Obviously, it's very old. There are graves that date back to the Civil War and American Revolution. My Mom and Annaleigh



My sister Rachel, me, and Annaleigh.
Showing us the pretty yellow leaves
Annaleigh was so attached to Rachel the whole time. She was stuck to her side!
Check out yet another cute outfit my mom made for Annaleigh. She is doing such an awesome job...and FYI: I think she is going to start selling her stuff soon so stay tuned for that and let me know if you would be interested.
My Aunt, Uncle and Cousins all went to Virginia Tech....so of course they had to give Annaleigh a hat!Attempts at "a great-grandchildren picture" Whew!!! Kailey is 3, Kyle is 2, A is 1...yeah, I would like to see you do a better job!!

Here we all are (minus just one cousin) Me, Rachel, Tyler, Mark, and our kids.

What a way to go to sleep...cuddled in great-grandads arms. Sure hope there is less time between our next visit!

"Over the River and Through the Woods..."

We will be traveling in 2 airplanes and one rental car tomorrow...a total of 2000 miles to get to my sweet granddads house in Virginia . I am so excited about seeing him and I know he is MORE excited about seeing Annaleigh...He hasn't seen her since she was 3 months old!!! We are looking forward to getting away to the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains for the week (we don't see too many mountains in Texas!!) and just getting away from it all to enjoy family! I am thankful for so much this year. We have had our trials, but God has been so faithful and good...and I am thankful for all of you, too! Thank you for sharing our little life with us through this blog. Happiest Thanksgiving!!!

Lipscomb

So....since I live in Texas, I don't hear a lot of news about the old Alma matter...Periodically I peruse the web sight to see what's new.

The first thing that caught my eye tonight was that Dr. Mike Matheny passed away today of brain cancer. I am so saddened by this news. I am not sure how many of you Lipscomb alum had him has a professor. I know I had him once or twice, and to be brutally honest, I am not even sure which Bible class it was for...what I do remember is his soft voice, his kind demeanor, and his caring heart. This man of God will be greatly missed, but I can't help think of how happy he is rejoicing in heaven with our Savior. You can read a tribute to Dr. Matheny HERE

Totally unrelated...I found this neat story about a couple who graduated from Lipscomb in like '93 or something who are taking a YEAR long honeymoon around the world. They write about it HERE in their blog. Check it out...they are doing the COOLEST things ever! I think I will have to live vicariously through them for the next 10 months!!

Lastly, in sports news, did you hear about the Lady Bisons defeating Frisk University 123-22...yes that's right...they beat them by 101 points. Read all about it HERE. Okay, and here is the kicker...I first heard this story on none other than ESPN today (Russell was watching, I just happened to be in the room!!!) Way to go Lady Bisons!

Here's a question...

Candy & Coffee are acceptable substitutes for breakfast and lunch the day after Halloween, right????

Halloween Night

Okay...I am so behind. I had intended on posting my journal from the 3Day earlier this week but will have to get to that later. For now, here are some pictures from Trunk or Treat last night. I would like to preface these pictures by saying I did not take any of these or walk around with my child because I was passing out candy from our trunk. Russell tried, but it's pretty hard to capture good images of a 19month old running around on a sugar high!!"Ok, where's the candy?""MMM, I know Cynthia will give me something good!!""I got a sucker, now I am keeping my eye on the prize (more candy) not the camera!!""Your trunk is kinda scary, Ms. Diann. If you give me candy, I won't cry!!"A, Papoo, & Kenzie. Circa 2006 (above) 2007 (below)

I Will get clean mom, but I will NOT give up my sucker!!! It's one day out of the year, RIGHT??

Stomach bugs are no fun!!

Mr. Stomach bug came for a visit this weekend and a good time was NOT had by all. A and I both came down with it on Friday night at the exact same time. Poor Russell won the daddy/husband of the year award taking care of both of us...and let me tell ya, it wasn't pretty!!! We are finally getting back to normal around here, but here is some advice for the day:

WASH YOUR HANDS frequently, Lysol door knobs and toys that could be contaminated, and do not eat/drink after your kids (or anyone else) this virus/flu season. Trust me, you don't want it!!! This is a picture of A when she was just a month old. It pretty much sums up how we both felt this weekend!

In other totally unrelated news....the 3Day is on Friday!!!! Thank you!Thank you! Thank you! for all of those who supported me financially. I ask that you all lift me and my team up in prayer this next weekend as we walk with thousands of other women in hopes of raising awareness for the cure for breast cancer!

Say Cheeeeese!

What a little ham!!!!

Russell Dean

So, LB tagged me with this "My Man" Survey. I don't care to do these very much, but I love Laura Beth and I love my man even more so I decided to go for it anyway.

1. Who is your man? Russell Dean (best said with an intentionally exaggerated southern drawl)
2. How long have you been together? including dating, about 8 years.
3. How long dated? about 3 years
4. How old is your man? 29
5. Who eats more? Russell, but not by much. Neither one of us are "big eaters"
6. Who said "I love you" first? I know this sounds terrible, but I really can't remember although I have a feeling it was probably me. The important thing is that we say it all the time NOW.
7. Who is taller? Russell is 5'11'' I am a shorty at 5'2"
8. Who sings better? I enjoy singing more but our ability is probably about equal
9. Who is smarter? Russell
10. Whose temper is worse? Russell is a little more "quick tempered" but gets over it super fast. I don't get mad very often but when I do, you better get out of the way!
11. Who does the laundry? I do except for I make Russell do his own shirts because he is WAY too picky about the way he wants them done. PS: I DONT IRON!
12. Who takes out the garbage? Russell.
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me
14. Who pays the bills? Russell.....thank goodness because I am horrible with money. He knows what is in our bank account to the penny at all times.
15. Who is better with the computer? Russell. He does all that youth ministry multi media stuff.
16. Who mows the lawn? Green Person Yard Care
17. Who cooks dinner? Me, me and only me!
18. Who drives when you are together? Only Russell. I HATE to drive.
19. Who pays when you go out? Russell even though it all comes from the same place
20. Who is most stubborn? We are all pretty stubborn around here
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Russell wins this one. He even apologizes when it's MY fault because he hates for us to be in an argument
22. Whose parents do you see the most? His. They live 5 hours away. Mine live 14 hours away in Georgia
23. Who kissed who first? He kissed me first.
24. Who asked who out? This one is complicated because we were interns together when we technically started dating...there was never a formal "first date."
25. Who proposed? Russell. He was so excited when he bought the ring that he just came up to my office at work with a dozen roses and got on one knee right there in front of everyone. He had actually planned to do it that evening at a special dinner. We went ahead and went to dinner that night (already engaged.)
26. Who is more sensitive? definitely me
27. Who has more friends? I would say we are about even. We are both pretty extroverted.
28. Who has more siblings? The same. I have one sister, he has one brother.
29. Who wears the pants in the family? I am going to answer this question using a different analogy and a quote from one of my favorite movies, My Big Fat Greek Wedding "The man is the head of the household, but the woman is the neck. She can turn the head any way she wants."

Early Anniversary & the Texas State Fair

Russell and I will celebrate our 5th Anniversary on November 2nd! I can't believe it has already been 5 years of marriage! As an early celebration we went and saw The Lion King musical at the Fair Park musical hall. If you know my sweet husband, you know he isn't exactly the "theatre type" so I was really proud of him for taking the initiative to get these tickets for us...but let me just tell you, I think he enjoyed the show as much as I did. If you get the chance to go and see a Broadway production of The Lion King, do yourself a favor and GO!!! The music was awesome, the costumes were beautiful, and the sets and puppetry were AMAZING!!
To top off a fun evening, he surprised me with dessert on top of Reunion Tower! What an incredible evening and a more incredible husband!
We spent Saturday at the Texas State Fair with our good friends and our favorite missionary from Honduras, Hector Ardilla. It didn't take A long to warm up to Hector

Emily and her boyfriend rode this extremely scary fair ride. No thank you. I would like my corny dog, fried green tomatoes and cotton candy to stay down please!

The Montanas, Hector and A standing in front of the Legendary "Big Tex." I had two observations about Big Tex. #1 is that he really wasn't as big as I expected, and #2 is that his blue jeans are REAL jeans especially made for him. No joke!

A enjoyed running around the beautiful garden area. There were Monarch Butterflies everywhere!

Look closely! There is a man being shot out of a cannon!!!!! You never know what you will see at the Texas State Fair!

Yes, It's another update on the 3 Day

Okay, I know you are probably sick and tired of me asking you for money for the Breast Cancer walk I will be participating in in 2 weeks, but please don't stop reading here!!!.....I want to AGAIN thank all my blogging friends who have already contributed to this worthy cause. I also wanted to let you know that if you have been thinking about giving but haven't done so, IT'S NOT TOO LATE! My goal is to raise $2,200 for this cause and I am just half way to that number! Could you spare just $5 (about the price of 1 Starbucks drink) this week to help to find a cure?? Maybe you could even give more?? I want you to know that each little bit can make a really big difference...plus you are personally helping me by raising awareness and supporting my team of dedicated walkers.
Here are a few facts about breast health you may or may not know:

An estimated 182,800 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in 2007.
Approximately 42,200 deaths will occur in women from breast cancer in 2007.
One in eight women or 12.6% of all women will get breast cancer in her lifetime.
Breast cancer risk increases with age and every woman is at risk.
Every 13 minutes a woman dies of breast cancer.

Thank you so much for taking the time to support me by your friendship, prayers, and financial contributions! I am blessed to have great blogging friends like YOU!

To make a donation please go to the link below. All payments by credit card/check card/online check are guaranteed to be secure. They are unable to accept paypal contributions at this time.

http://07.the3day.org/dallas07/lauriefrantz

A Little Late

I have been wanting to post pictures all week of the Mother/Daughter Supper my mom and I hosted in Athens a few weeks ago. It was so great to catch up with my oldest friends and see their sweet babies! I was in "hostess" mode for most of the night so, unfortunatly, I didn't get as many pictures as I would like. Here are a few: All the girls plus Jackson! (PS: there is another little girl in Suz's tummy!)
All our Moms (plus my beautiful grandmother)
Suz is getting a little practice in with precious Julia
Beth and beautiful Lilly
We have been best friends since we were 2....now we have little girls of our own!

I also wanted to add that I am still in need of contributions for my Susan G Komen 3 Day Cancer walk. Any amount of money that you could donate will make a big difference in a cause that touches us all! Thanks to all of you who have already given! Let's all work together to finda cure as soon as possible!

http://07.the3day.org/dallas07/lauriefrantz

Another 3 Day Update

It's hard to believe in just 3 weeks I will be participating in the Susan G. Komen 3 Day event in Dallas. I would like to thank those who have contributed already to this incredible cause. It means more to me than you could ever know!
Each participant has the objective of raising $2200 toward research for finding a cure for breast cancer. Although is seems like a large amount of money, I think we can all agree that we cannot put a price tag on the cure of this devastating disease. What I love about raising money for this cause is that it is personal to almost everyone because they know someone who has been affected by breast cancer in their life one way or another. My grandmother had breast cancer at the age of 30. I would be lying if I didn't tell you that I am scared I too may one day be affected. You may have similar fears about yourself, your mother, your wife, or even your daughters which is why finding a cure is so critical.
Any amount of money you could contribute to this cause would be greatly appreciated. At this point, the easiest way to donate would be to follow the link below to my person sight and donate online. Of course all donations are tax deductible and a receipt will be sent to you by mail from the Susan G. Komen Philanthropic organization. Again, thank you for your dedication in helping to find a cure for Breast Cancer.

http://07.the3day.org/dallas07/lauriefrantz

Horseback riding in Georgia

This is a series of pictures from Georgia when A went to visit Aunt Rachel's horse "Wills." I think she had more fun giving the horse kisses and playing in the dirt than actually riding him!!













I will post more pictures from our fun week in Georgia soon.