Happy Father's Day!

We love you, Shawn! Happy Father's Day! Thank you for being such a great dad to the trio, a wonderful husband to me, and a great friend to all those around you! We are truly blessed with the love and the example you set for us! Hope you have a great day!

The greatest gift I ever had
Came from God; I call him Dad!
~Author Unknown

No raises again....Really!?!

During a legislative committee meeting on Thursday, June 17, Richard Weiss, director of the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, stated that the suspension of cost-of-living adjustments, merit raises, and annual career- service-recognition payments for fiscal year 2010-11 included faculty and non-classified employees. If this directive holds, UCA will not be allowed to provide the budgeted pay increase to faculty and non-classified employees approved by the Board of Trustee in May.

I try really hard not to have written complaints on here. We have not had a raise since we moved here. We got this email today and let me tell you we are a bit "frustrated! I will be grumpy for a little bit but I am so GRATEFUL that Shawn has a faculty position and that I can teach part time. Getting a job is not easy thing to do in this economy. For those of you who have been unemployed probably say that is an understatement you don't know the half of it. My heart goes out to you. It is my sincere hope and prayer that the economy will look up soon!

New Bedrooms

Now missing her 6th tooth! Slow down girl!
Wearing matching nightgowns with Sophia!

I'm a big kid now!

Look at me on the top bunk!

Goes to sleep listening to her birthday MP3 player
6 going on 16

We have redone the trio's bedrooms. They had outgrown sharing a bed together. They would laugh, roll around, and stay up forever together. We had been planning on redoing their bedrooms for sometime. We took advantage of having extra hands and spent last week painting their bunkbeds, cleaning the rooms, and rearranging the furniture. Their bedrooms look so nice. I need to get a better picture of the boys room. You can't really tell from these shots they are bunk beds. The kids are adjusting well. Jax has the most difficult time adjusting to new things but he really is a champ.

Greers Ferry

Bradley is one of Shawn's students who just graduated. He will be attending the Utah State's doctoral program in Experimental Psychology in the fall. His family own's a 25 foot pontoon boat. One day the family (with the exception of myself and Ashlin) spent a day out on Greer's Ferry. Everyone absolutely LOVED it. The boys got to "drive" the boat, swim with geese, and pee on a tree. What more can you want from a day of fun!?!

Happy Birthday Shawn!

Shawn & Ashlin share a birthday! This year we broke out and celebrated separately. We invited friends to Larry's Pizza to celebrate his birthday. Sunday (6th) was their actual birthday. Nana made pancakes for breakfast. Ashlin wanted to put candles in them for the festivities. Later that day we had the traditional Charlton "Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake". It's been a tradition for as long as Shawn can remember.

Happy Birthday Shawn! We love you!

Happy Birthday Ashlin!

Ashlin turned 6 this year. She had a bottle cap birthday party at Paisley's Party place. The party was just wonderful. She enjoyed celebrating with her friends. They played dress ups, made their necklaces, cupcakes, and presents. What more could a girl ask for!?!
She has grown up so much this past year. I blame it on Kindergarten. She looks so more and more grown up with each passing day (losing her teeth does not help!) She is so smart, sweet, and loving. I am so grateful that she still loves to snuggle!
After not knowing if I would be able to have children and then a year of fertility treatments when the time was right our precious miracle came into our lives! There will never be words that I could write to express the gratitude for this precious spirit Heavenly Father has entrusted us with! She truly brings joy and happiness to each new day!

Thanks Ashlin for being you! We love you, Ashlin!

Kids will play when the parents are away

While Shawn and I were at ABA. The kids had fun filled packed days with Nana & Papa. They went to jumpzone, the park, the movies, and had Happy Meals galore. Ashlin lost her fifth tooth while we were gone.

ABA 2010

WiNnErS!

Carl Cheney, Me, Dave Pierce
Funniest Guys Ever
Carl is the greatest mentor. Shawn & I will be forever blessed for the time & support he has given us along the way!

Me, Carl Cheney, Cathy Sales, & Dave Pierce
This is a scene you will see every year.
Cathy is one of the most genuine people you will ever meet.

Us at the River Walk

UCA Students Bradley Gossett, Lori Parker, & Shawn at the River Walk

Trina Spencer, Andy Gardner, myself Utah State Friends

Hillary Whiteside The director of the program I worked at in San Diego

One of the teachers I worked with in San Diego. I helped train her.

Bradley Gossett & Shawn with one of the five posters presented at this year's conference.

This year ABA (i.e. Association for Behavior Analysis) was in San Antonio. We go every year over Memorial Day Weekend. Not only does the conference provide us with many professional opportunities, it also provides us with a time to reunite with college, San Diego, and conference friends we have met along the way. We have so much fun catching up on life, research, and work. I enjoyed being able to hear how the students are doing that I worked with in San Diego. I absolutely loved my job there & was sad to leave it when it was time to move on. We attended sessions, walked the river walks, had many fun dinners (along with the rudest waiter ever), and had the lousiest experience ever with Marriott. It was an eventful trip to say the least.
Bonus to the trip, My mom lives in Austin so she drove up and I got to spend some time with her.
So, until next year ABA friends have happy, productive, and data driven lives!!!!!

Zoo in May

Mischievous Trio

Afternoon nap anyone?

The Family
(We tried to get Shawn not to look so serious, maybe Jaxon was
holding on to tight to his arm:)! )

We went to the Zoo in May (yes, once again I am behind). We had a nice "HOT" visit. The Little Rock zoo is small but we enjoy it. You are able to see the animals up close an personal. We have season passes so we can sneak in for an hour or two and when the heat is unbearable sneak out. This visit's most fascinating attractions (at least for Shawn & Ashlin was the python exhibit. We learned that anacondas are the largest snakes but pythons are the longest. This python was particularly longs and in a large glass case by himself. He would go up and down this log. You would think a python would be quite graceful as it's tail dropped to the ground as if it slowly floats to the ground. Nope it plops down no grace about it. Shawn & Ashlin watched the snake move through 3 rotations. Jeron was indifferent. Jaxon wanted to be a little further way. He had no interest in watching (too many Indiana Jones movies maybe?). Ironic that we didn't get a picture of the animal that caught the most attention. We are going to go again this Friday afternoon. We will see if the python is as fascinating this trip.