Before and After

This post was originally going to be a picture of my flowers and my latest updates however my project wasn't quite complete today. I was able to spread down 4 bags of mulch today and get all the weeds pulled and flowers trimmed. I bought some new edging that I was excited to put out but as soon as I got the mulch out it started to thunder and rain. So what do I do instead? Grab the dog and go for a run in the rain. It had been so hot it felt great to cool off. It started off as a simple run in the rain and ended up being a race to get home from the thunderstorm. Still felt great to me, Jazzie looked pretty ticked. She does not like thunder and was a sad, wet dog after getting home. I will complete my flowers in the next day or two and post pics.

I recently took a few older pictures in to show friends at work here in Columbia. They didn't believe me when I told them I used to weigh a lot more. It's strange to me now to get the pics out and look at the comparison. I guess I do kind of look like a different person. I feel like a different person.
2006

This was in Jamaica in 2006. I even wore a 2 piece. What on earth made me think THAT was a good idea?

Disney in 2005.

And my personal least favorite...I can't believe how large I look.

5 years later...

I just went to Kohl's this morning and bought a few new clothes. It is SO much more fun to go shopping now. Although it's trickier when I like almost everything I put on, it's harder not to spend too much money!

This girl turns 13 on July 9th. 13 years old. I'm letting her have 4 friends sleepover on Friday. Wish me luck!

So in honor of this milestone birthday, a teenager now, I thought I'd dig out some old pics to continue the before and after theme.

Looking way too grown up

Disney in 2005. So little!

Her 8th birthday at the Peoria Chiefs game, getting her name on the scoreboard.

And the priceless reaction to seeing her name on the scoreboard.

The 8 year old. Still celebrating with her parents and all her parents friends.

The following year, her 9th birthday. Again at a Peoria Cheif's game. A pattern here.

And the priceless reaction shot for the 9th birthday...her face when she opened her Nintendo DS.

Of course Hannah Montana was the thing that year too. Notice the shirt.

So long are the days of Hannah Montana and the Nintendo DS. Now it's Miley Cyrus and text messaging. It's not about hanging out with the parents friends, it's the sleepover that started out with a list of 22 people that had to get narrowed down to 4. Is it really only 3 years away from 16? That makes me cringe just thinking about it.

I'm heading out to the field the week of July 5th for inspections, going to Springfield, MO. I'm really looking forward to getting out of the office. Then back for a few days and heading back out to the field the following week, July 18th to Fort Smith, Arkansas for a week and 1/2. During the weekend I'm in Arkansas I'm going to drive to Tulsa and see family I haven't seen in 20 years. That will be exciting. I hope to have a lot of exciting posts in July. Including the Bon Jovi concert with Missy!