Kelly's Blog

Oh what a wonderful trip we had!! This is my nephew who is so so sweet! Aiden is such a wonderful baby. He doesn’t spit up?!?! What? Maybe Little Rock has an exceptionally high population of spit-er-up-ers because I don’t think that I have ever been around a baby that never spits up. My sister is doing very well. A little tired because she just had a baby, but also because her body is still trying to recover the blood that she lost. Apparently it will take about 6 weeks to be back up to normal. Aiden is also a great eater. He went for his 2 week appointment and the doctor said that he is gaining about 2 oz. a day!! Again, I have no idea if every baby is like that and I really don’t want to be the girl that thinks her nephew is exceptional when in reality he just normal, but I was pretty impressed that he has done so well. We had such a good trip and I was not ready to come home. Hopefully in the fall my Mom, Courtney and Aiden will come to LR to visit. This picture is of sweet Aiden in the outfit that we bought him. We are going to make him into a Bama fan whether he likes it or not. Doesn’t he look so comfy and cozy in his new role as a Bama fan? I think so! Roll Tide!! Oh, I love this picture. There will be more to come!

Aiden Thomas Espinoza was born on Friday night weighing in at 7lbs 13oz. and 20 and a half inches. He is doing great!! My sister has had some complications starting after his birth. She is having a blood transfusion today so please keep her in your prayers. She was able to feed him and he ate great so we are excited about that. I should have some pics very soon for you guys!

Man, I had such great intentions to be a better updater, I was wrong. Things have been really crazy here lately. I guess that is mostly because we are getting closer to the summer and our summers are always crazy. I feel more prepared this time. I will be able to due a little more with the kids and I am looking forward to that time. I wanted to post some pics to better update you on our last few weeks.

This is us at Garvan Gardens in Hot Springs. It was so beautiful!!! We took a group of about 25 old ladies with us. It was hilariously fun. I sat by a 91 year old women that asked my name about 20 times and after about 20 times of shouting directly in her ear “KELLY!” She sighed and told me that it didn’t matter anyway. I wasn’t really sure how to take that.

This is my good friend Zac. Steven and I took 4 of our guys to a disc gold tournament in Memphis. Sorry Memphians, there just wasn’t a good time to get away and come see you guys. Anyway, I got to see Zac and Lauren for a little while and that was really great to catch with some old friends!

Matha and Hovie came to see us for the weekend and it was so good to see. It doesn’t happen enough. I would share some pictures but we really didn’t get a lot with our camera. They got a new one that is way nicer then ours so Hovie was busy taking the pics. Last weekend Steven performed a wedding, his first. He did a great job but I don’t have the pics downloaded yet. This coming weekend is another wedding and a quick trip to Branson with the girls. I will hopefully will update more soon. Oh here is something I forgot to mention. I should have new nephew in 2 days! I am so excited!! Please pray for my sister and my new nephew Aiden Thomas during this transition. We will be going to Fresno at the end of the month to meet him. I can’t wait!

This was the first time since I left for Harding that I got to spend Easter with family. It was so fun to spend that time with Steven’s family in Alabama. Below is a picture of Bailey, Steven’s 2ond cousin. Isn’t she beautiful? She is also the smartest just turned 2 year old. Her word for the week was pediatrician…WHAT?!?!

Steven and I were able to start our Easter holiday off by having dinner with my dear friend, Ashley and her wonderful boyfriend, Rudy. This is us at Carrabba’s (sp?) I love this place and was excited to share that time with them! Sorry the layout is weird. I am trying to be big girl and figure out how to do this picture stuff on my own. We got a new camera so hopefully I will have lots o pics in the posts to come!

A pleasant picture for Jesse to look at while she eats her lunch. Sorry about the gross picture being up so long. This is from our vacation in 2005. I really don’t have anything to write about I was just wanting to put something up that was more fun then a gross brown recluse arm. I found this in our picture library. I hope everyone is having a great day!

The is my sweet boy’s arm…don’t be jealous 2 weekends ago Steven was visited by a friendly little brown recluse. A brown recluse that wasn’t feeling very reclusive at the time he decided to inject his poison into Steven’s arm. Why oh why, LBR would you want to hurt somebody like Steven? All he was trying to do was serve God by taking our kids on a retreat. He was only doing his job and minding his own business. Yes, he probably slept in your personal space, but really, turn his arm white because of severe infection? Is that REALLY necessary? I think not.

BTW…his arm is fine now. No big gapping holes, bruising or white flesh. We are thankful, still a little traumatized, but so very thankful.

The finished kitchen floor!!!
Kind of a blurry finished product pic, but you get the idea. Promise, the pillows normally face the correct. Man, I really should have straightened up before I started snapping pictures!
Silly Steven, making silly faces in our newly floored living room! Yea, it’s done, it’s done!
This is during the process. They did such a good job! Thank goodness for people that know what they are doing and that those people love us!
This is our living room before, minus the cushions and sorry about the laundry. Sorry this is a backwards before and after post. More like an after and before. Forgive, I am new at this posting pictures business! So that’s it. We really do love it so much. No more stained carpets and we broke down and got a new stove too so we are no longer risking our house burning down when we cook. Thanks for humoring me.

This past weekend, we (more specifically my Dad, and 2 other YM Dad’s) installed hard wood floors in our down stairs. It looks so good! I am so excited about having a floor that is not all stained up by somebody else’s kid. It’s so clean looking. We also got a new oven because our old one wasn’t quite working the way that it should. My Mom so lovingly called it a “fire hazard”. I feel like such a princess having all four burners working, a timer, a clock and a actual light where I can see what I am cooking. Glorious!! So far Mom has been the only one breaking that joker in. So anyway, that has consumed the past few days for us. I will post before and after pics as soon Steven gets a chance. Sorry I am just not good at that.
In other news, we have been so busy(I know that comes as a huge shock!). The weekend before last, we went to Winterfest and had a great time with the kids. They did so well with so much freedom. We even got a compliment about the way they were behaving. It was a pretty big deal. This weekend is a leadership retreat for several churches in our area. I haven’t decided if I am going or not. I am really tired and just want to stay at home. Maybe I will just come up late. My parents are leaving today. It has been so nice to have them with us, but I am looking forward to routine. OK, that’s all I got!

Monday (29th) was great! I got balloons at work from my parents, received lots of calls and e-mails wishing me a Happy Birthday and went to this fancy schamncy restaurant for dinner with my sweet punkin. Oh yea, Michael and Mindy Cooper called me to tell me that they are pregnant!! Tuesday (30th) was strange. My friends at work took me out for my birthday to Blue Coast Burrito and I was super pumped. Later that day I got a call from Steven asking me if it would be okay for a 17 year old runaway to stay at our house for the night. What?!?! All of these questions and thoughts went through my head. Is he going to kill me? Do I need to hide all of our bank statements? Is he gross? (sorry, but I can very shallow) But the thought that most penetrated my head was “this is exactly what we are called to do”. So I said okay, but was really nervous UNTIL I got home and looked in our extra room where he had put all of his stuff. There, lying very peacefully on the bed, was a tuning fork. Yes, you read right, a tuning for fork. Two more thoughts…1) A band nerd, I can handle a band nerd…2) What kind of runaway carries a tuning fork with him?!?!? Oh, and I also bought hardwood floors for the whole down stairs and I am super pumped. I will post pics when it is done. Wednesday (31st) was equally perplexing. So I go home at lunch to check on our little vagabond and he was gone. So gone that it looked like he never walked through our door. All of his stuff was gone and the bed was perfectly made. Kind of a strange feeling. Turns out he decided that he is not grown enough to make it without his parents and went back home. Did I mention that home is Dallas, TX? Thursday (1st) was really fun. It was a snow day here in Little Rock so I was off all day. We went shopping, bought a new light fixture for the kitchen, then went home and did some things on the house that needed to get done. Friday (2) was productive. I cleaned our house, Steven put up the new light in the kitchen and we spent most of the evening watching the last six episodes of Lost getting geared up for next week. So there you have my birthday week. Man, this year of 28 has started really strangely.

0 degrees, with a “feels like” temp of -20. What?!?! Who exists in such conditions and actually enjoys it? This past week I spent some time in Denver/Breckenridge, Co. I had a blast in Denver and also decided that Colorado does a FANTASTIC job at presentation. Everything looks cute, has a catchy name and really just makes you feel cooler when you are there. Colorado oozes with cool. Not to say that all Coloradans are cool, but their state for sure is. Anyway 0 degrees was the temp Sunday morning. Needless to say Kelly didn’t quite make it out on the slopes that day. I understand that we only get to ski every two years, BUT there was no way that I was going to spend 65+ dollars on being miserable. No way at all!!!! So I took the prissy route and sat on the couch, in front of the fireplace and read my book. And I was totally comfortable in that choice. I am not too proud to say that I am cold and don’t want to ski today! I don’t have anything to prove to anybody! Anyway, besides that and 2 friends with the stomach flu, we had a great time and are so thank full for the time with good friends. I got to spend sometime with my college roommate, Analisa and her new baby boy. It was great.
Now that we are back home and I am relishing in the routine. I have slept in MY bed consistently for 4 nights. It almost brings tears to my eyes. The spring semester is sooo busy and I feel like I am having to play catch up with no time for myself which totally sucks but part of the deal. So here we go! Summer will be here before we know it. Enjoy your day today!!!