Snowy, snowy day...

Wow, it has been a long time since I have written a post for this blog! I have continued reading blogs during this whole time, but just never taken the time to update my own. Now, I sit here on this very cold and snowy day and just decided it was time for an update!

My last post was announcing that I was starting on a new adventure with Thirty-One Gifts. What a great adventure it has been so far!!!! I have accomplished way more than I ever thought I would. Most of the accomplishment has been with very little effort on my part! That makes it even better. The products are so wonderful that they basically sell themselves when people see them. I now have 5 recruits who are signed up directly under me and most of them have people under them as well. My team now consists of 18 members!! We wrote over $13,000.00 in business last month alone. Thank you girls for all your hard work!

I have managed to promote once already within the company to Senior Consultant and on March 1st I should promote to Director! One of my girls will promote with me and we will get to be recognized at our national conference in July. It has been an awesome ride and I am so glad that I decided to embark on this adventure. Besides all those benefits, I have made some extra money and have an abundant supply of bags!!! If anyone is reading this and would like to get in on some of these awesome benefits, just leave me a comment or find me on facebook and message me there! My website is available, too, for you to look around and see what you think! www.mythirtyone.com/joycenabors

Besides working my Thirty-One business, I have been spending as much time as possible with my sweet little Grace!! She is going to be 4 years old in just 20 short days. Where have the last 4 years gone? She is so much fun to have around. She is very smart and talks like an adult most of the time. She is really into making up stories right now and I love to hear her tell them. I am so thankful that they live as close to us as they do so we can see her often!

We have also found a new home church that we really are enjoying. We are now attending Grace Church located on hwy. 265 next door to Williams Gymnastics Center. It is unlike any church I have ever been a part of and I love it! Taylor and her family are going there, too. Grace loves being with the kids in her class and is now quoting Bible verses! It makes me very happy to know that she is being raised in the church.

Can't think of much else to write about for now. Maybe I can be a little better about posting, not that anyone reads this but me!!

To new adventures...

This is my new adventure! I am a new consultant for Thirty-One and am very happy about it. I am still teaching, but needed a little something extra. I was exposed to this company sometime ago when I was blog hopping. I ordered a bag from an online party and really liked it. I hadn't heard any more about them until Taylor came in one day with a catalog. She was having a catalog show for one of her co-workers, Stephanie, who had just started selling it. So, naturally, I had to order something! It was not hard to find something that I wanted. Actually, I wanted it all! So, I decided that I liked it so well that I thought I could sell it, too. I signed up last week and am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my consultant's kit so that I can get started. Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is anything I can do for you. We have some very good hostess gifts and benefits if you are interested. I am game for in-home parties, online parties or catalog shows. You can check out my website at the address on the card above or visit Thirty-One Gifts and look around. I am looking forward to many hours of fun in this new endeavor of mine!

Another adventure that we experienced this week was Grace's first pedicure!! We found these little kid pedicure chairs at Best Nails in Fayetteville.



Of course, Friday afternoon was probably not the best time to slip in without any appointments, but she sat there patiently waiting until someone got to her. She had a movie playing the whole time and Taylor and I were in the chairs beside her.
She didn't quite know what to think about the whole process. Her feet can be very ticklish at times, so it was funny watching her as they were scraping them. Then the hot towels came out. She didn't seem to think they were too hot for her!
This picture turned out a little dark, but now she is actually having the polish applied. While we were waiting on our chairs to become available, Taylor took her over to the polish to pick out the color she wanted. She went straight to lime green! Taylor managed to talk her out of that so she ended up with "shocking pink." It is bright, but it looks great on her little toes. She even has white flowers painted on both her big toes. Maybe Taylor will post a picture of the toes, she didn't take one with my camera.

We had a lot of fun getting pedicures together and I'm pretty sure it won't be the last time!

Girl trip!

Some weekends just warrant a post on the blog and last weekend was one of those weekends! Taylor, Stephanie and I left town last Saturday morning about 9:00 heading to Little Rock for the George and Reba concert. We had been looking forward to it for weeks and we were not disappointed!!

Our first stop was in Alma where we picked Mom up and headed to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. It was great as usual and we really enjoyed being with Mom. After we ate, we took Mom back to the house and hit the interstate. We talked and talked as girls will do. We decided that we needed a break before we hit the big city so we stopped in Conway and spent some time at TJ Maxx and More. Of course we did spend a few bucks, most of which was for our little angel, Grace! She is soooo much more fun to shop for than anyone else. I did find a couple of new shirts for myself and ended up wearing one of the to the concert and the other one home the next day. It felt good to be wearing short sleeves for a change! After we had searched every inch of that store, we decided to head on into Little Rock and check in to our hotel. Mike had requested that we not drive home after the concert since it would be so late. We gladly obliged that request!

We got to our hotel around 3:00 and got checked in and started trying to decide where we were going to have dinner. Stephanie had printed off a book for us listing all the possibilities in Little Rock. We had discussed some possibilities on the road from Conway to Little Rock. We settled on Cajun's Wharf! It was awesome and Taylor and I don't even eat seafood! We both had a ribeye that was cooked to perfection.

Then it was off the Verizon to find a parking place and get settled. Many people!!! We found a pretty good spot to park, though, and headed in. It didn't take long to find our seats and enjoy some people watching before things got fired up.

We asked the lady in front of us to take our picture and she was happy to do so! I love these girls so much!!!!


At last, the moment we had been waiting for arrived. The lights went down and Lee Ann Womack took the stage! She did a great job. Taylor's camera had such a good zoom that she was able to get some really great pictures. Lee Ann was on stage for about 40 minutes then there was a break while they were preparing the stage for Reba.
Reba did an amazing job as well. She sang both old songs of hers and some of the new ones. She was dressed in black during the bulk of her show, but she changed into the red for her encore of Fancy. She came out into the arena in a mini-couper cab and got out in the fancy red dress complete with red high heels. I'm not a big fan of Reba's, but her part of the show was great!!
Then, the real act took the stage!! As much as I like Lee Ann and as good as Reba's part of the show was, the real reason I was there was to see George! He has been my favorite entertainer since he first began. I have been privileged to see him 4 different times in concert. I have to say, that I would go again tomorrow if I had the time and the money. He sounded and looked as good as he ever did and I am already looking forward to the next time I get to go and see him. I think the girls will be ready to go again as soon as possible, too.

I want to say a big thank you to Taylor and Stephanie for helping make the weekend so special. I am looking forward to many more girl trips with them as long as they will let this old woman hang out with them!! I love you girls!!!

Too long...

When I looked at the date of my last post I couldn't believe it had been so long. There are several reasons for that, though. The first one being that our computer at home is very contrary and we never know if we are going to get booted off or not. Therefore, most of the time, I just don't get on it. Another reason being that when we have been at Mom's we have been involved in one thing or another with no time to write. Still another reason is that I just haven't had much to say. We had a pretty busy fall that began with Mom's surgery. My schedule got totally mixed up spending so much time with her, however, I wouldn't have missed a minute of it!!! As she was recovering, Mike was becoming sicker by the day. He ended up with severe ear infections in both ears. He took several rounds of antibiotics before he finally got over it. His ears are still not 100% like they should be, but at least he can hear again. I literally had to yell in his face before he could hear me for a while. Not much fun for him. By the time he was better, it was time for the holidays. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas at Mom's. Even though it was a dangerous trip to Alma on Christmas Day, Taylor and her family and Mike, Tanner and I made the drive down. I'm glad we were able to go, we had a blast! The next day, Mike, Tanner, Grace and I headed to Ft. Worth to have Christmas with the Nabors's. We had a great trip and got to spend some good time visiting with Mike's family. They especially enjoyed the time they got to spend with Miss Grace! The last few days we have just been in front of the fire watching football. The snow is beautiful, but I really think I am ready to get back into the work routine! Anyway, now my blog is caught up. With any luck, our computer will continue to work appropriately and I won't get so far behind again. Sorry there are no pictures, I will post some at a later date! Til next time...

Welcome home Granny!!

If you read Taylor's blog, which I know most of you do, you all know that Mom had back surgery on the 10th of September. She was discharged from Healthsouth at 11:15 this morning!! She is doing absolutely great. Everyone who worked with her in rehab was so complimentary of how quickly she was progressing. We are all so proud of her! She is definitely a trooper.

Cathy flew in on Wednesday to be with her for the next 2 weeks. She drove up every day to spend some time with Mom and we knew that there was no telling what all she was doing down here! She spent time cleaning out the refrigerator and making sure that all the laundry was caught up and that the already clean house was even a little cleaner. She also stocked the refrigerator so that they will not go hungry. Besides being a domestic goddess, she did some of our Christmas shopping a little bit early. You should know by now that my son-in-law, Gene, built a deck on the back of Mom's house on Labor Day weekend. It is awesome!! Mom had bought a 3 piece set of patio furniture that we had enjoyed before she went to the hospital. However, it only had 2 chairs with it so we knew that we were going to have to find more. Cathy and her friend, Monica, got out yesterday and found this great piece to go with what she already had. They bought and repotted the mums into the pots that they found, which match perfectly! It is absolutely beautiful!! Before Cathy would even let Mom sit down, she walked her to the deck so that she could see her surprise. She was completely surprised and very excited, as was I who had not seen it either!


Isn't it pretty?

This is the set that she had bought. It just looks great all together!

We had a great reunion after we had seen the deck. Mom's sister, Ima, was already here when we got here and her other sister, Rose, and her husband, Jim, came in a few minutes later. Rose had made pies for Mom. One coconut and one chocolate! I had a little of the coconut, it was awesome.

Of course Johnny and Pat came up. (Pat is in the next picture.) Sorry Johnny, I couldn't resist posting your picture, we so rarely get one of you!

Here you can see Pat on the sofa and Mom's other sister, Ima, in the chair. It just made Mom's day for them to all come to see her on her first day home. She was very pleasantly surprised!

We took full advantage of the beautiful weather and had lunch on the deck. It was so very good to see the three Martin girls together again and hear them laughing together. What a wonderful day!!

Don't they look great all together? I am so thankful for the wonderful family that I have been allowed to be a part of.

I didn't get any pictures of Cathy or myself, but we were both here as well and enjoying every minute of the family reunion!! Cathy had gotten a vegetable tray, some fruit mix, cheese dip and of course, Pizza Parlour pizza! What a homecoming!!!

Trip part 2...

As promised, below you will see Miss Grace really telling Mema something of utmost importance! Mema hung on her every word all weekend long. She called last night and was talking about all the things that Grace was saying while we were there. She is definitely hooked on that sweet little girl! But then, who isn't?

Fun weekend trip!

Wow, it's almost another weekend! Between traveling home on Monday instead of Sunday, a very slow computer, and a workshop all day on Wednesday, I am just now getting around to completing this post about our trip to Fort Worth.

Mike, Tanner, Grace and I left on Friday morning headed to Texas. We had not been to Mike's folks since April of 2008. Needless to say they were all ready to see Little Miss Grace! She traveled pretty well, thanks to the DVD player. She really only slept for about 45 minutes on the last leg of the trip. She doesn't have her paci anymore so it was not as easy for her to fall asleep. We made good time, though, and pulled into Mema and Papa's at about 3:00 p.m. Grace went to the door by herself, with Tanner around the corner, because Papa didn't know we were coming. He was very surprised to see that little girl at the door and at first didn't know who she was! It didn't take him long, though, and he was thrilled to see her. It was okay with him that we were there too, but she was the one he was really wanting to see.


Here he is just watching every move she made. He couldn't believe how big she had gotten and how verbal she was. She talked nonstop once she got comfortable in her surroundings!

There was a picture of her with Mema right here, but I accidentally deleted it! I will put it in another post later. She also was thrilled to see Miss Grace. She had seen her in February when she came up here for Grace's 2nd birthday but she was really ready to spend some more time with her. She, too, was amazed at how much she had grown and how much she was talking and making sense.


One of our all time favorite places to eat in Ft. Worth is Joe T. Garcia's. Mike craves it all the time, so I know we will eat there at least once any time we are in town. We went there for lunch on Saturday and it was just as good as it always is. Mema, Tanner, Mike, Brenda (Mike's sister), Grace and I stuffed ourselves to the hilt. Everything was fresh and hot! I had to send Taylor a picture of our table since she didn't go with us. She was not too thrilled!
After Joe T.'s, Brenda, Mema, Grace and I went to one of Brenda's friends and picked up their little girl who is the same age as Grace. We then went to Forest Park to ride the train. It was a lot of fun. The train was a little bigger than the one in Ft. Smith that Grace, Granny and I had ridden. The ride lasted for about 45 minutes and we saw some pretty scenery. Brenda was excited to be able to take Grace on the train. She remembered when she had taken Taylor and Tanner on the same one.

This is Audrey. She was more bashful than Grace at first, but she finally came around. Grace wanted to hold her hand and sit by her on the benches while we waited. She wouldn't even look at Grace at first. Grace couldn't quite understand why she wouldn't have anything to do with her. It was fun watching them interact. Grace is never around kids her own age. By the end of the train ride they were best friends and hugging each other. When we got Audrey back to her house she didn't want to go in! Don't they both have beautiful blue eyes?
Back at Mema and Papa's we had gotten popsicles from the ice cream truck. Grace obviously got a red popsicle! We stripped her down to panties and kept her outside and she had a ball.
When she finished it, Brenda got the water hose after her! She loved it, too. She loves the water as much or more than any kid I know. She stood still for a while and then she ran off. It was funny watching Brenda go after her with that hose.
On Sunday morning we left Ft. Worth headed for Lake Texoma to spend the day with Chadd, Jeannie and Brett. We met up with them at their boathouse. Immediately we put the life vest on Grace. I was a nervous wreck when we first got there. Grace is not really afraid of much and we were surrounded by water! They kept telling me that she was okay, even if she fell in her head wouldn't even go under water because of the design of the vest. She got pretty hot and kept wanting it off, but all in all she did pretty well. Jeannie got out the little fishing rods and let her fish right up there where we were sitting on the dock. She caught 2 almost immediately! She seemed to enjoy seeing them, but didn't really want to have much to do with them. Ranger, the dog, on the other hand was very interested in them!
After we snacked on some sausage stuffed peppers, we took off on the boat! Grace really enjoyed that. I was very nervous once again, trying to keep her still! We went off a ways and let the boat drift while Tanner, Jeannie, Brett, Chadd and Grace did some lake swimming! Tanner took very good care of his niece! The boat drifted quite a ways away and Chadd ended up going out to help bring Grace back. She was not so crazy about swimming with Chadd! It all worked out fine, though.
She did okay with Jeannie as long as she stayed close to the boat!
Tanner and Jeannie had to 2 seats at the front of the boat that they fish from so of course Grace wanted to be up there. She is pretty crazy about her Uncle T anyway, so she likes to be with him.
We had a great day at the lake! After our boat excursion we headed back to the boathouse for some delicious fajitas. When everyone had their fill we headed into Chadd and Jeannie's to spend the night. We were all pretty tired from the sun. On Monday morning we headed back to Arkansas! We stopped off in Alma to spend some time with Granny and then took Grace home. She didn't want to go home, she wanted to go to our house! We, however, were ready for her to go to her house! I love her dearly, but it was good to drop her at her house after having her for 4 days straight. I am reminded every time we have her for any length of time like that why we have our kids when we are younger!

We really did have a wonderful trip and I hope we get to have many more with her!!!