Cowtown Wraaaastlin'

Last weekend, I went to Fort Worth with Chris and TJ to watch Chris compete in the North American Grappling Association's Championship Tournament at the Will Rogers Center.

I know NOTHING about grappling or wrestling or UFC or any of those things, but I wanted to go and see what it is he does at the gym all week and I also wanted to go and support him at this competition!

Here's Chris, scoping out the place.....

And here's TJ, following Daddy with his Arlington MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) shirt - "I'm a Lover AND a Fighter." lol

Ummmm....I would be more scared of the camera man behind Chris than the other competitors! haha

And I got a free chiropractic adjustment when I was there - they had a chiropractic clinic there the whole day, working on people's backs. I thought it was just for the competitors, but it was for everyone, so I hopped on a table and got a free adjustment! YAY!

Actin' silly while we waited around for his division......We got there at 10am and he didn't get on the mats until almost 3pm!

Lots of guys in their underwear, weighing in!

Try keeping a 4-year-old entertained for 5 hours while waiting to compete.......it was tough!

Checkin' out the competition!

Me being silly for the camera as TJ tried his hand at being the photographer for a change! A little blurry, but pretty well centered.....

And this one is a great shot - TJ took it of his Daddy getting ready to compete!

This was on a guy's shirt - love it! www.dropya.com

At least there were several guys from Chris' gym that all went together, so he could talk to his friends while they waited all day. The red shirts are from the Arlington Fight Team.

Gotta love the Tapout logo on his butt! When we first met, he had to explain to me what 'tapping out' meant - I had no idea!

I was so glad that I brought some fun Christmas cookies to entertain and feed TJ with - I would've brought more toys or snacks if I had known I would need to keep him busy for so long....but he did great.

Chris fought in Ring 9 but we moved around a few times - they were watching all of the kids go before the adult divisions.

Gettin' ready for the Ring!

By the time Chris finally competed, TJ had fallen asleep underneath the judges table!

Here we go - bring it!

Chris won 1st place - 6 to 2! He got a pretty cool medal!

He looks pretty tough in this pic - accepting his award!

And then he had to wake TJ up after it was all over - he missed all the action!

Here is his medal - it was really well done and very heavy!

Congratulations - he did a great job! I was really proud of him!

Ingenius Recycling

Last week, a co-worker of mine came into the office with some purses that she bought from a charity that handmade them......but they are quite different than most purses you have seen before......they are made out of bras!!!

What I found really funny is that they are made by a ladies group (older ladies) from a Catholic Church that is located just outside Oklahoma City!

From what I can tell, they just sew the cups together and then make the straps into the strap of the purse and the back latch is the top latch of the purse!

Here's one of my friends at work 'modelilng' the purse. They were hilarious!

Here's a traditional white bra - with a floral twist!

And a very ornate black bra with some 'flair'!

The things you DIDN'T think you would see in a typical work day!

The LIGHTS At Night....Are Big And Bright....

As if the Fort Worth lights weren't enough, Chris and I decided to go to the Prairie Lights display in Grand Prairie. We knew TJ would like it and I have wanted to go since last year (never made it).

It is the kind of light display where you drive your car through most of it and then towards the end, you can get out of the car and walk around a different lighted display. Here's the entrance to the event:

They did an amazing job - very cool!

I loved these big huge Christmas presents - they were taller than the truck!

All of the little bridges were lit up - love the pathways that the lights create!

Here we are going into the walking tour:

It was absolutely amazing - SO MANY FREAKING LIGHTS! I love when they wrap the tree trunks in different colors - so cool.

And here's the North Pole.....

And Santa's house - TJ got to see where he lives!

What was just as magical as the lights was the fact that it was in the 50's/40's - and NOT in the 0's like Minnesota would probably be!

Here's Chris and TJ, playing around....

The displays were so creative and cute - I think I had as much fun as TJ!

Here we are having fun in "The North Pole"!

The Lights of Cowtown

Because I am so obsessed with Christmas lights, it should come as no surprise that I went on a bus tour of the Fort Worth lights this year. Mayce, April and I headed to the Stockyards to meet with the other girls.

The Stockyards were decorated all cute for Christmas!

Here we are (Mayce, April and I), waiting for the bus.......

It was a Sunday night, so things weren't too crazy there, which was nice. We ate at the Mexican restaurant at the Stockyards (Habanero's) - it was OK, but not great. Riscky's BBQ is WAY better.

When we were about 1/2 way through the tour, the bus stopped in a parking lot and some teenage carolers came on board and sang us Christmas songs!

And of course, Santa and Mrs. Claus jumped on the bus too - very cute!

Crouching Maggie, Hidden Gift - Year 2

It happened again.....a couple weeks after Mom's visit, I got the following email - indicating that she has hidden Christmas presents in my house for me to look for and find!

This year she made it into a rhyming poem! I'm planning on waiting for a while to search for the presents to make it fun for Christmas, but I may not be able to wait! We'll see......

Hi Lauri

Just a note to let know
presents are not hidden in snow.

One for Maggie is wrapped in green foil, surrounded by festive red
don't bother looking under the bed.

Look high and low, like a riddle
in fact, it may be in the middle
There's no real decoy
It could be a favorite doggie toy.

The present for Lauri is a TX star
No need to spy under the car.

It's heavy in weight
and has no mate.

Hidden behind some softness,
In a place of daily business.

It could be hard to spy,
like something fallen from the sky.

Open a door, check inside
This one cannot be easily spied.

Don't drop it; it might shatter
fall to the floor with a big splatter

Hope you find them for Christmas! Love, mom

Alfred Hitchcock Parking Lot

Last week, I was shopping in Dallas while wasting time before meeting some friends for dinner and I was kind of grossed out in a parking lot - I pulled in and there were a million birds everywhere!

You could barely drive through there - they wouldn't move until the last second. I just had to creep across the parking lot and hope that I don't feel a 'thud' under the tire!

I thought maybe someone had thrown food out there or something, but when I got out of my car, I didn't see any of them eating or any food anywhere. I just have no idea why they would be just congregating there and SO MANY of them?!

Very weird and kind of gross!!! However, I was kind of glad they stayed on the ground - I didn't want to be bombed on the head!

Lost Treasures

When I was rummaging through all of the stuff in my Grandma's cedar chest recently, I found some pretty cool stuff. I can never just go in there looking for one particular thing and then just shut the lid. It's just not possible.

I am a very sentimental and nostalgic person, so these kinds of things just intrigue me and pretty soon I've spent 2 hours in that cedar chest!

Here are some cool finds on this trip down memory lane:

This is a sign from my Grandpa - Robert Larsen. It's a metal sign and I imagine it was attached to a mailbox or something outside at some point. I had to laugh, though......who makes a sign with a squirrel on it?! Hee hee.

Here is one of my favorite pics of my Mom - she was a little girl and oh so cute!

And here is my Dad's navy hat (he was in the reserves) - so cool!

He told me once about how he joined the navy reserves and had to take a train to where the boot camp location was. I can just picture a young version of my Dad jumping on a train with a big duffel bag full of his possessions - off to a new adventure. I know the feeling!

The Ghost of Christmas Past

I think that part of Christmas time is reflection and remembering past Christmases from your childhood. With that in mind, I found myself digging in Grandma Larsen's cedar chest.....

I found a needlepoint-type thing that my Mom made years and years ago (when we were little babies). It used to be in a square frame and hung on the wall each year at this time in our New Hope house, all throughout my childhood.

It must've taken a LONG time to do - there is a lot of detail in it and it was made with love.

But what I was really searching for in the cedar chest was my childhood Christmas stocking that Grandma Larsen made for me when I was born. I used it every year when I was younger, and even into my adulthood. I no longer hang it up because it's kind of fragile and I'm afraid of ruining it. And since Grandma is gone now, I want to keep it as kind of an heirloom of sorts.

Grandma made lots of these craft projects, and we each got a stocking and a decorated Christmas ornament. Even my Dad had one that she made - with his name "Richie" (as she called him - so cute!) and the year he was born (1939).

She even stitched the cursive name in the top - I love it!

Here is my Grandma Larsen - she was quite the lady! We had a lot of similarities - she would be up working on crafts or trimming her hedges at midnight or 2am! Gotta love 'ladies of the night'!

And a non-Christmas find in the cedar chest was my baby blanket! Here's Maggie getting ready to take a nap in my blankie......

Gettin' Some Culture in Big D

A few weeks ago, I won tickets to the Dallas Symphony's Christmas Pops show from 96.3 KSCS (a DFW country radio station). So exciting since I have never seen a show at the Meyerson in downtown Dallas and have not experienced the Dallas Symphony before.

Chris got a babysitter for TJ and we headed off to Big D to see the show. It was all decorated and so beautiful!

The auditorium was decorated and beautifully lit - I was blown away!

The huge organ was incredible and the organist up in her perch even did a long solo to show off those pipes - amazing!

Here's a close up of the organist - she did a great job!

The lighting was very Christmas-y. They bathed the orchestra in red light - it was magical!

At one point, the conductor invited a little girl up to his post and let her be the 'guest conductor' for a song. SO CUTE!!!

Chris' favorite were the big bass players - they were right in front of our seats (we were in Row 8 on the floor!).

Here we are at intermission......

I was just as amazed with the building/lighting as I was with the actual performance! This is the lighting/ceiling above the orchestra - so pretty!

Here's the awesome organ and pipes.....

This was the view from our seats - perfect!

Here's a view of the auditorium from our seats:

All of the songs that they did were Christmas songs and they even did 2 sing-along medleys that the audience got to participate in. It was a really neat experience.

It was a wonderful night - all thanks to a great radio station. Thanks, KSCS!

Missing The Flakes

So you'd think that a person who was DYING to move to Texas wouldn't miss the snow ONE BIT, right?? I thought so too.....but at this time of year I actually do find myself jealous when I see Minnesota or Ohio friends' Facebook statuses about snowfall. Now, I would like to point out there is a definite difference between missing SNOW and missing the SUPER COLD TEMPS for months on end. I certainly don't miss the bitter cold, but I really do miss the snow sometimes.

It's just so exciting to wake up and go to the window to see if it snowed and what it looks like this time. And when I lived in Ohio, I was only about a mile and a half down a side street from my job, so I didn't have to worry about the whole 'driving in the snow' thing while I lived there. It was just a pretty, white winterland that I got to enjoy from the 2nd floor - in the trees!

There are people that I have met here in Texas that have NEVER experienced SNOW! This absolutely baffles me and I feel sorry for them! Snow can be so much fun - especially in the childhood years. I cannot even imagine my childhood without snow - no snow forts, no snowball fights, no sledding, ice skating, shoveling, snow angels - the list goes on and on!

It snowed a little bit the other day here in Dallas and everyone was freaking out - taking pictures in their front yard, or posting pics of their windshield with some flakes on it. I just had to laugh - ah, they don't know what REAL snow is. They obviously didn't live through the Halloween Blizzard of 1991 in Minneapolis! For those that did live through that, you know what I mean by REAL SNOW!

At any rate, while I LOVE Texas and all of the adventure it brings, snow is something that I really miss - I can even remember the SMELL of snow! Ah, the simple things............

All Jacked Up

I have to plug a new business that I visited last week for an oil change (Ruby's first oil change under my care!). So often, we encounter bad service that sticks in our mind, but I want to take this opportunity to point out a GREAT experience I just had. It was at NTB - National Tire & Battery and this particular location is right next door to my gym (24 Hour Fitness) in Grand Prairie (right at 360 and Camp Wisdom/Sublett).

On the back of the Kroger receipts when I get groceries, there are coupons and I happened to see one for a $16.99 oil change and tire rotation at this particular location of NTB. I had never gone to their store before, so I decided to try it. I called them and they were very nice and told me that they could get me right in.

They had a VERY clean reception area and a great waiting area (a flat-screen TV with HGTV on!) with pop machines, chairs and bathrooms. In addition, the waiting area had a big huge window that you could look through to see the cars being worked on. So I watched them work on Ruby to pass the time.

Here she is up on the hoist thing!

They worked quickly and for a total of $21.46, I had an oil change, 22 pt. inspection and my tires rotated. Great deal!!

One other good thing is that they are open until 9pm on weeknights and they are also open long hours on both Saturday and Sunday.

I would definitely go to their location again - I was in and out quickly, for very little money and they were very professional and nice. Kudos, NTB - you just got a new repeat customer!

Adventures in Mall Shopping

Last weekend, I braved the Parks Mall in Arlington once again. I think the last time I was in the mall (other than the movie theater that's attached) was last year at this time! I have an aversion to big indoor malls these days - it's almost like a claustrophobic reaction or something.

There are several reasons:

1. A great majority of the stores hold no interest for me (Build-A-Bear, Disney, teeny-bopper clothes, electronic gadgets, crazy expensive shoes, etc.).

2. There's no way to 'dump off' purchases at your car or anywhere else as you shop - so if you buy something, you have to carry it for hours (enter: back pain).

3. It gets so hot in there as you are cruising around, carrying stuff and dodging other shoppers who are walking the wrong way down the right side of the hallways.

4. You get accosted by the people selling stuff at those 'carts' in the middle of the aisles. This is especially prevalent at Christmastime (which is the only time of the year that I really shop in an indoor mall). I try not to make eye contact with them, but sometimes I still get attacked.

This time, I was actually asked this exact question (yes, I was so shocked/annoyed that I stopped, pulled out a pen/paper and wrote the sentence down so I would remember to blog about it later!): "Ma'am, which flat iron do you use to style your hair?" Ummmmmm.....really?! I have been sporting my curly hair for months now and there's NO INDICATION that a flat iron is being used on my hair AT ALL. WTF?! I just looked at her and said "Uhhhhh, my hair is CURLY. I don't use a flat iron." UGH.

Then, I just have to bring this up since I'm talking about the weird vendors in the mall aisles....what's up with the 'ferret-looking' furry toys that seem to squirm around on their own and wag that nasty tail?! #1 - GROSS and CREEPY. #2 - Who actually buys that?!

5. This is actually one redeeming quality that I found in the mall this time - a mall convenient store! Yes, it sells pop, water, snacks, and typical gas station/convenient store items that you might be needing during your visit to the endless abyss that is the mall. What a great idea! You might just want a ponytail holder or a safety pin or kleenex or something like that - and there you go! Good job, Parks Mall, for making an oasis like this for mall-haters like me. :)

Budding Holly

Maybe I'm just NOT a green thumb like my Mom, or maybe I'm guilty of not doing enough research on my choices in landscaping, but a mystery was solved this past week either way......When I bought my house, there was basically no landscaping in the front of the house. After moving in and getting settled, I tackled the 'lack of foliage' in the front.

I hired a landscaping company (Pedro) to put in a mini retaining wall (edgers), mulch and some hedges/bushes. I picked out mainly Buford Holly as the big plants, with the idea that when they grew tall and wide enough, I'll trim them to be a squared-off hedge. Great.

Well, they were tiny at first, and now a year and a half later, they are a little bigger (but not as big as I had thought they would be at this point......but they don't get much sun, so.....). At any rate, I did see lots of new growth - they got taller and lots of new leaves developed before my eyes.

But there were a few of them that had these little 'knobs' on them and I thought they were the 'buds' or beginnings of leaves. I tried to water them extra, thinking they just didn't have enough water to fully develop. After months of frustration, the leaves never formed.......

Fast forward to late November:

DUH - am I really that dense?! I bought HOLLIES. They were the holly berries, just waiting patiently for winter so they could turn red and be pretty for Christmas!!

Now I feel much better about my watering skills - they weren't stunted leaves, but the pretty fruit that my foliage shows off in winter!

Out of (Customer) Service!

Recently I have had some very disturbing customer service experiences and I hope they are the exception and not the rule these days.....

1. I was heading to a meetup group event (the paint your own pottery night) and I was going straight from work to the event, but needed to grab dinner beforehand. Since Cheddar's was near the pottery place and I love it, I decided to bring a magazine and go there by myself. OK, that's all good, but when I went in the lobby and asked for a table, the girl said, "I can't seat you because I'm not on the clock" and then waited until someone who "was on the clock" walked by and could seat me! Don't be at the hostess stand if you aren't "on the clock," idiot!

2. I went in to my doctor for a physical and they did the normal tests - blood work for cholesterol, glucose, etc. and yes, the lovely 'female' tests. OK, not a big deal. About a week later, I got an email from my doctor saying everything was normal and that I should come back in 2010 for my next physical (my doctor's office is pretty technologically savvy - they email you results and you can actually look up your exact lab results and stuff). Great - end of story, right? WRONG.

A few days after I got the 'all clear and normal' email from my doctor, I got a call from her office and they said that Dr. Ward wanted me to come in for a follow up appointment to discuss the results. I asked why - since I had just gotten an email that all my results were normal and that she would see me next year. I even had downloaded the actual lab information that showed everything in the normal range. When I inquired about why I needed to come in to discuss 'normal' results, she had no idea why she was calling me. She said it must be because of some abnormal tests, but I said that I just looked at everything and they were fine. I asked which result was abnormal and she couldn't find one or any reason as to why she was calling, but then asked me which day I was available to come in. UMMMMM......DUH! Why would I take time away from work, pay a $30 copay and sit in your waiting room full of sick people to be told that I have normal results?!

Oh, and through this whole confusion, I was transferred back to the 'lab' 2 times and both times, the lab person cut me off and transferred me back up to the appointments people. WTF?! Nobody knew why they called me!!!

This makes me very worried about who's running the show over there!

Christmas Decorating!

I broke the rules - I put up my Christmas tree and decorations a full week before Thanksgiving. Yep, I did it. And I don't care what anyone thinks!

Some things stayed in the same places as last year, but invariably, I always have a few new Christmas decorations each year (because I find some sweet clearance stuff after the season is over - turns into "new" stuff for the next year - so fun!).

Here are 3 new bulb styles that I picked up after Christmas on clearance last year. I love them and they are gracing my tree this year for the first time.....

I love this grapevine "HOPE" sign - also new....

The kitchen table...

Gotta love this plae - it has "Y'all" on it!

This grapevine wreath is new this year as well - I love it!

This little pail has been fun to decorate with - I have pumpkins for fall, Christmas bulbs for Christmas and then some dried stuff for the rest of the year. Maybe this year, I will find some cool Easter eggs for spring.

Another new thing - these trees remind me of Minnesota - so cute.

I made the red/white ceramic "Christmas bulb" at a paint-your-own-pottery place last year. I love it!

I'm lovin' the tree - it's worth all the work to put it up.

More decorations..........

Everything in my mantel area looks a little different this year since I had the walls painted in the spring, so it's my first Christmas with a 'finished' living room!

Last January after Christmas, I found these over-sized Christmas 'lights'. I put them in my stairwell and I love 'em!

And here's my original Martha Stewart wreath that I made in Ohio. Ah, the memories.....

Talents & Struggles

Lately, I have been thinking about the whole concept of 'who am I?' and what is my purpose. Now that is a BIG topic that extends beyond this little blog post, but I thought I would write about it.
I think that EVERYONE has talents, even if they aren't glamorous or flashy. I also think that EVERYONE has a set of things that they just aren't good at or struggle with. I thought I would take this opportunity to think about both categories in my own life.


STRENGTHS/TALENTS:

1. Organization - I swear, my mind is one big Tetris game going on 24/7!


2. Time Management/Prioritizing/Deadline Management - I have made this into an artform in my own life.

3. Exploring/sightseeing/traveling - I have learned and experienced a lot and am continuing to grow in this area. There is so much to learn and see!


WEAKNESSES/STRUGGLES

1. Patience, patience, patience! It definitely doesn't come naturally, so I really struggle when trying to practice it.

2. Idea generating - I'm a 'worker bee' or 'modifier', but I'm not normally the big idea person. I am the person who can take an idea and run with it, but the great ideas rarely come from me!

3. Artsy stuff - drawing, painting, sculpting, creative stuff (except decorating - I'm getting better at decorating)


And here are some skills that I think I'm getting better at and am having fun with:

1. Photography - I LOVE taking pictures and I'm starting to get better with the settings on my camera and trying to find more creative shots!

2. Empathy, Sympathy and comforting others who are hurting, struggling or dealing with difficult situations.

Voices From The Past

When my Mom stopped at my house on her way down to south Texas for the winter, she left this carrying case in my living room and it sat there the whole time she was there. But I didn't touch it or open it while she was there because I thought it was hers, so I just ignored it.

When she was leaving, I thought she was forgetting to take it with her, so I told her she left it in the living room. She said "Oh no, that's for you. That's the video camera that Dad used before he died. There are several tapes in that bag, but I couldn't figure out how to use it." HOLY CRAP.

Up until this point, we have had NO recordings of Dad - nothing on audio OR video....just pictures. She had mentioned this video camera before, but I kept forgetting about it. But now that I finally had my hands on it, I was really nervous and excited to see what was on the tapes. I knew that one of the tapes was Dad recording at their house up north - a tape they were going to give Kristi since she lived far away in Arizona.

PROBLEM - the tape that is in the camera is STUCK. I cannot get the tape holder thingy to open! So anyway, I hooked up the camera to my TV and hit play.............

The tape in the camera was from 1998 - just a few months before Dad retired from Amoco Oil (now BP). He was narrating the tape, so he's not visible in the recording, but just to hear his voice nearly took my breath away! I haven't heard his voice since he died in January 2003, so this was monumental and emotional.

I never in a million years thought that somebody narrating engineering/repair details at a gas station would have me absolutely riveted and glued to my TV! I initially thought that when I heard his voice on the tape, that it would sound foreign or not like him, or that I didn't remember his voice exactly like it was.....but I was proven very wrong. His voice was just like I remembered it - almost like he died yesterday. It seemed so natural to hear it, not alarming or disturbing....just like Dad stopped by and it was totally normal to hear him.

What a gift in those silly little videotapes! Now I have to figure out how to change out the tapes so I can watch the one of Dad showing the viewers around their house in northern Minnesota - much more exciting content than gas station repairs!

Taking One For The Team

Recently, a friend and co-worker was diagnosed with breast cancer and her tumor was pretty aggressive. She's a super cool woman and it really hit home because her life is very similar to mine - 34, not married, no kids, living far from where she's from, etc.

Anyway, she started chemo right away and because her dosage or "cocktail" as she calls is was so strong, her hair started falling out after the first treatment. The time came when she decided it was time to shave her head to make things easier. She had bought a wig and was ready to go with that.

What was amazing was that some of the guys in our company decided they would have a head-shaving event at work - taking one for the team as Jenn made the plunge into hairlessness.

A bunch of the guys brought in their own clippers and the cutting/shaving began - right alongside Jenn.

They were working their magic in our Development area - the makeshift barber shop!

This is the first volunteer! It started out with a handful agreeing to do it and as time went on, more and more and more of the guys stepped up and showed their support for Jenn.

Nothing like giving your boss a haircut!

As much as this was a very emotional event for Jenn - cancer finally has a physical 'look' and it's not just inside her body anymore - it really was a time for laughter and smiles.

The guys kept lining up to support her! Amazing!

Joey even got impatient and took matters into his own hands!

Here's Jenn as Tammy was working her clipper magic on her....

She was a trooper and she took this big step gracefully. That's the only word I could think of that did her justice - she was so GRACEFUL about it.

And here she is - what a cutie! And her wig is AWESOME - it's perfect for her.

Lots of hugs, encouragement and laughs. It was such a powerful experience to witness this.

After Jenn was done, she had to take a stab at shaving her boss' head. Not many people get that opportunity!

And he lived through it - what a good sport!

When there was no more hair to cut, we moved on to goatees....so funny!

Here's Jenn and the boys (there were more that shaved their heads, but these were the guys that were still in the room when we took the picture)...

American Tradition

Chris, TJ and I recently visited the American Airlines C.R. Smith Museum right by DFW airport. It had a lot of interesting memorabilia, but the highlight of the museum was parked in the attached hangar.....a plane!

This was a refurbished plane that was originally commissioned during WWII. It was parked inside the museum and you could climb up inside of it and look around - SO COOL.

Here's the underbelly of the plane - something you don't often get to see!

I thought the outside made it look younger than it really was - it was so shiny and pretty on the outside...

Here's the back - a very cool plane....

When we went inside, the plane showed it's age. Here's the "Lavatory" - very old!!

The seating area was pretty standard, but it smelled really old and musty in there. I suppose that'll happen when a plane turns 65 years old or so and hasn't been in the air in years....

The cockpit area was fascinating - SO old and manual!

The console controller thing looked like some sort of old toy - amazing that this plane was flown in WWII with this simple little joystick-type things!

Look at the freaking ceiling of the cockpit! So primitive!

This plane would've NEVER passed safety standards that are in place now - here's the passageway from the main cabin to the cockpit...

These wires were exposed in that little hallway on the way up to the cockpit - doesn't look too safe or reliable to me! YIKES!

This plane alone was worth the entrance price to the museum!

Here's TJ by a big engine-type piece (I'm no engineer!)...

Landing gear always looks so tiny on planes, but those 'little' wheels are actually pretty big! Here's Chris with a landing gear wheel....

Here are the boys examining an engine...

And here is a 'fake' cockpit that shows the new technology that pilots have....

They have a lot more screens with graphics, rather than gear shifters and manual buttons. Much more technology than that old WWII plane, that's for sure!

Just Tryin' To Make A Buck!

I saw the following truck on my way to work from the gym the other day and I just had to laugh. So of course, my first instinct was to whip out my camera from my purse and snap a picture while I was sitting at the traffic light!

In these stressful times, it's just fun to see something like this - meant only to give you a cheap laugh and make your day brighter (obviously this was a bread truck of some sort). I love it!