Packing for Oklahoma

Josh and I went to the library last Monday to return his books. He did not get anything new because of our trip. We also went to the pharmacy and to the Dollar Store for some things. Then we did not do a whole lot until Friday. Friday I decided I was going to get some things done. I shampooed the carpets, washed the windows, cleaned the bathroom and kitchen and dusted. I felt better getting something done. I also did the laundry. Tomorrow we leave for Oklahoma. Josh is spending the night with my parents tonight so they can make plans for the trip and they will pick me up in the morning. We will be back on Friday. I mostly would like to get some shopping done while we are down there. My Uncle is in the hospital with double pneumonia and in the ICU...so we will try to visit him as we are able...he cannot have many visitors. I know Josh was hoping to do more things with my Uncle, but he will enjoy seeing my Uncle and his wife. I hope he is feeling better soon. If we stay at the hotel I am hoping to swim and I want to check out the workout room. I did my walking today. I would like to cycle in Oklahoma. I do still need to start packing. Have a great week!! P.S. Darylynn...it did not flood at my house, but very close by. I was lucky. I was seeing a lot of homes on facebook with flooded yards and people saying they had 3 inches of water in their homes. There were many roads that were flooded in Springfield. My cell phone was going off all weekend with flood and thunderstorm warnings. It is still raining. There is no standing water here though. :)

Silver Dollar City

We went to Silver Dollar City on Saturday. It is an 1800's theme park here in this area and I have been going there my whole life. We had a great time. Here is a link to SDC Silver Dollar City. We got there early and rode a lot of rides and saw a show and went through the cave. I have not been through the cave since I was in high school. There are 700 steps to get down into the cave. Let's just say, the next day my calves were hurting. Here is a picture of us in Marvel Cave. It is a beautiful cave. I had every intention of taking more pictures, but it did not happen. We had a nice lunch out there and got some salt water taffy from the candy store. When we got home Karl mowed the lawn and I went to Wal-Mart for some things. Yesterday we went to Lowe's and got some new yard lights. I did not think about taking a picture of them, but I do like them. Today I took Josh to the library so he could return some books he was reading. Then we ran to the pharmacy to get some medicine, then to the Dollar Store. We are home now and I think we can rest. I do not have any plans for this week, so we may go to see my parents later this week. In any case, I may not have much to report. We are going to Oklahoma next week, so looking forward to that. Have a nice week!!

Catching up...Part 2

Josh was saved when he was 5 years old, but he never did get baptized. I did not want to push him and make him feel uncomfortable. The last day of school Josh tells me..."I talked to Pastor and I am getting baptized June 2nd". I was so excited for him. Here is a picture. The rest are on facebook. I am glad I never pushed him to get baptized and that it was able to be his decision. It just means more that way. I cried and was so proud of him. The Grandparents were there and one of Josh's Aunt's...Karl's sister Kayla. Afterwards we went to Pizza Hut to eat. It was a nice night. My parents also had their 50th wedding anniversary in April. We have been busy. We took them out to eat and had a great time with them. I did not get any great pictures of that because my dad is having trouble walking (his weight) and so he was off to the car before I could even snap a picture. He is suffering from Alzheimer's now and my mom has Parkinson's. They are doing ok for what they are going through for now. So yesterday Josh and I decided to go to the Japanese Stroll Garden here in Springfield. We went there and then we had a bite to eat at Burger King. Last night we went to Branson for dogfood at Petco and I got to check-out the new Ulta make-up store. We had fun. The stroll garden was so peaceful and pretty. It is in a big park, so we went there also and saw the Botanical Gardens and the Butterfly House. My phone died at the Japanese Garden I took so many pictures, so I did not get any pictures of the Botanical Garden or the Butterfly House. Josh did, but I haven't seen them yet. Here is a photo of Josh at the Japanese Stroll Garden. I think I am caught up on the important stuff now. Tomorrow we plan to go to Silver Dollar City...a theme park here in the area, so I will make a post about that on Monday. Have a great weekend!!

Catching up...Part 1

I will have to make a couple of posts to catch you all up since I have not posted since January. I am still trying to workout. I have had some pains here and there and I was sick a LOT in May, but I am hanging in there. My goal is to lose some weight and I am going to have to walk/jog longer to make that happen. I enjoy my treadmill and especially when I was working I enjoyed coming home and walk/jogging to clear my head. This has been a rough year at the preschool for a lot of reasons. I will not get into it, but so glad it is summer. I recently got some new shoes to help me with my aches and pains. They are Saucony Cohesion 6. Here is a picture and this is the color I have too. I said I was sick in May. I mean I was sick back to back weeks. I had the flu one week for 2 days and the very next week I had a BAD cold I actually had to leave work and come home and sleep. I felt better when I woke up and was able to go back the next day. It was crazy, but I kind of needed some time off and I have plenty of sick days, so it was kind if a nice break even though I was sick. I got a lot of sleep. I also took off because Josh was sick at one point. I was off a lot in May. Josh had the flu also. Well, Josh graduated from 8th grade. I know if you follow facebook, you have seen the pictures. I am going to share a picture I did not post. It is of his awards. He won an award for best History and Reading grade and A Honor Roll one semester and A/B honor roll the second semester. He had some other awards, but I was so proud of his reading awards because the school wanted to retain him in 4th grade because of his reading level, so we pulled him out of public school for the year...had him do homeschool and then sent him to middle school the next year. He was caught up when he went back and now has all of these academic awards. I know I am bragging, but I am so proud of him. He has been beat down and had no confidence for so long. He is doing so good in school now. Here is the picture of his awards...one is his promotion certificate. Ok, well this is getting long. I have much more to share, but I will do that another day. I am looking forward to getting caught up with blogs!! See you soon.

guess who...

I have not posted since November, so since then we had a nice Christmas. My parents came to be here with us and we had a nice time. I got a treadmill for Christmas and I am finally going to try to get some of this weight off. I gained a lot of weight...well last year after student teaching. We got stressed out at the preschool and ate everything in sight. One of my co-workers has already lost her weight and the other two of us are working on it. This is a much more difficult year at the preschool, so I am not sure what got into us last year. I have been walking everyday and for right now, I am still trying to get stronger to work myself to a faster walking rate. I have been walking faster and more each week, but I haven't checked my weight. I do not really feel like I have lost any weight yet. I have not worked out since I started going to college and now that is over I can focus. It has been a busy month at the preschool and I will not get into it except to say that time is going fast. Things are also going well. Last weekend since it was a long one, Karl, Josh and I took off to Lake of the Ozarks. I was wanting Josh to see something new and it is pretty there but they have built up since I was there last and it turned out to be not a big deal...not like I remembered it. The lake is beautiful of course, but we went on to Jefferson City instead...the capital of Missouri. Josh wanted to see the capital building and we had the most fun there. I think all of my pictures are on my phone and hopefully most of you were able to see them on facebook since I have nothing to share here. It was nice to get away for the day and have some fun. We are all fine. Karl is working in Joplin, which is about at hour away, but hey it is work. He drives back and forth everyday, so he is here with us at night. Josh is doing well in school and work is going good for me. I plan to keep up my workouts and hopefully I will start seeing some results soon. I also got the app on my phone my fitness buddy and it helps me watch my calories. Well, I better go. There is not a lot going on here, just tired at night. I wanted to update for those of you who do check on me and I appreciate it!! I miss you all and think of you often. Glad facebook is there to see many of you. If you are not on my facebook, find me...Lori Burkett Ray. It is easier to keep up with me there. I am keeping my blog because you guys know I post the most in the summer when I am not working. I hope you are all well and the flu has not found you. Have a great weekend!!

Black Friday

We had a nice Thanksgiving. I always enjoy spending time with my parents. The dinner was good and my mom's birthday is coming up Sunday, so she opened her present and I always enjoy watching people open presents. I got her some lotions and she loved them. Thanksgiving night we decided to go out shopping at Wal~Mart. I said last year I would never go again and I should have stuck to that. I was wanting the 700 thread count sheets, but there were people everywhere and I actually told Karl I wanted to go home. He did go over to see of any sheets were left, but they were out. We went back out today...not for bargains, but Christmas shopping for decorations and we had fun. I was able to get some sweats and a new jacket. We got Josh 2 pair of pajamas and Karl got a jacket too. We got a few new decorations. I do not know what came over me, but I took out the decorations this morning and I just did not want to use them. We got some new Christmas decorations for the house and came home and decorated for Christmas. It was late when we finished the inside of the house, so Karl will work on the outside tomorrow. I love Christmas lights. We are almost done with Christmas shopping for the family. The kids are done, except for Josh. We have Josh, my mom and dad and Karl's mom to go. Josh is fun to buy for and he is easy. Josh had to see the orthodontist the day before Thanksgiving, so he was sore Thanksgiving day and he is actually still sore. He has lost all of his baby teeth at this point and so they added some new things in his mouth, so he was extra sore. He is also getting a cold, or his allergies are bothering him. I feel bad for him. I hope he feels better soon. I am loving this time off. I forgot to mention we got a new tv for the living room, nothing special, but it is a 39 inch LED 120 Hz tv. We got that at Best Buy last week. I like it, the picture is brighter and we are adjusting to that, but love it. We put our other tv in our room on the wall and I am getting a treadmill so I can start working out again. Well, that is all for now. Have a wonderful Christmas season!!!

Thinking of Thanksgiving

Since last we talked things actually have settled down at the preschool. We continue to get more kids and our morning class is full, but the kids are settling in and it seems easier. We also have a set of extra hands one day a week to help us, so that has been nice also. We had a local church adopt the preschool as well and they have been bringing us snacks for the kids and they also got coats, hats, gloves and shoes for our kids. What a blessing. I have never had this much help before and it is awesome. Karl is doing fine, but he is laid off right now. Pray about that if you think about it. He is the one that actually makes the most money and we are doing ok, but it would be nice to have his income back. Hopefully at the beginning of the year he will be able to get back to work. This happens to him on occasion because he works commercial construction. I am hoping work starts back up soon. Josh is still doing great in school and making all A's. Bless his heart, he has to go to the orthodontist the day before Thanksgiving and he is so mad. He says he will be too sore to eat. There will be leftovers though.

Thanksgiving is at my house this year. We are planning just a traditional spread of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, green beans and carrots, hot rolls, stuffing, deviled eggs, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, coconut cream pie and carrot cake. This will be all since it will just be my parents and Karl, Josh and I. This will be way too much food for us. I am sure we will eat it though. Karl and I went to look at tv's today. We are thinking of getting a bigger tv for the living room. I will update you on that later. Josh is at Stained Glass Theater today, they show Christian plays. He is with Karl's parents and some people from their church. They always have fun. He will be home later tonight. The dogs are all doing great and I hope you are too!! I miss you all so much and am hoping to be able to visit blogs over Christmas break. I decorated for Christmas here at the blog so I will not forget. Have a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!