Jordan's Landscaping

This is Jordan's latest yard improvement. For those of you who have never seen our house this is where the trash cans sit. It was a muddy mess before but Jordan turned it into something beautiful. Jordan along with the assistance of Madison carefully laid these bricks and built the planter. Chris and I were both so impressed!!! He made sure everything was done correct and that the crawl space door will still open. The best part was the two of them actually worked together on the project. Jordan at one point did say to Maddie "could you please just stop talking and work?" It was pretty funny!!

Madison and Beauty

Madison had her first riding lesson on Monday. She had a really nice and somewhat stubborn horse named Beauty. She was a natural at riding and is looking forward to next week!!!

Spencer's Graduation Hilton Head SC

The last few weeks have been so busy!!!! It is amazing how fast the summer goes by... if only the cold winter days were like that :) Well a lot has happened in the last few weeks. Spencer graduated from high school, I can not believe I am even typing that! It seems so strange, where did time go? We had a wonderful time in Hilton Head for a few days with the family. We were a little disappointed that it rained for graduation. They had to move the graduation inside and each student was only allowed to have three family members come in to watch. Chris, my mom and I went in while Dad, Jordan and Madison watched the video footage. Unfortunately the video went out a few minutes in to it and so they just had to sit in the auditorium. I am just glad he graduated and am looking forward to taking him to the Citadel in August.

Creamy Italian Dressing I - All Recipes

Creamy Italian Dressing I - All Recipes

I wanted to share my favorite salad dressing recipe. I was just getting ready to make it and thought I would post it before I forget. I leave out the whole onion and substitute onion powder that is the only change that I make. This is super easy and makes several salads for our family.... It is really good if you use romaine lettuce, artichoke hearts, black olives, croutons, Parmesan and tomatoes.

Our Ninth Anniversary

We celebrated our 9th anniversary on Saturday May 15th, 2010. We had a really wonderful time.... We went to Sullivan's for dinner and then to a movie. Sullivan's was pretty good, I think the service was actually better than the food. We told them it was our anniversary when we made the reservation and they made it really special. The manager actually came out and told us Happy Anniversary and then gave us a free chocolate souffle with a cream anglaise sauce. It was really good! Not as good as the chocolates that my sweet husband brought to me on the night before our anniversary. You can see the pictures above, my favorite was the strawberries.
We went to see the movie "Letters to Juliet". It was one of the best movies I have ever seen. It was romantic but really funny too. It was kind of a chick flick but there were actually other guys in the movie other than Chris. There has been a few times that we have been to a movie where he was the only guy! It is just another reason I know he loves me!!!

Madison's New Shoes

Here are the shoes that go with Madison's new dress. We went to TJ Maxx on Saturday and actually had a good time! She picked these out on her own and I must say I think she did a great job!!

Madison in a Dress!!!

Okay... so while I was typing my last post about the dress shopping Madison actually put the dress on. Nobody even held a gun to her head!! She looks so beautiful ..... and she has extremely long legs as her brother had to point out. It makes me a little sad to see her so grown up looking. It seems like it was yesterday that she was wearing cute little ruffle dresses, black shiny shoes and big bows in her hair. Where does the time go?

Dress Shopping

Madison and I went dress shopping today. I told her that she needed to wear a dress to Spencer's graduation, she of course said "I would rather die" Elizabeth made a deal with her that if she gets to come she will wear a dress if Madison will. I am still not sure if Elizabeth is going to be able to come but we are praying about it and hopefully her grandmother will let her. Well, anyway Madison has a dress now and it is really cute. She knew exactly what she wanted but we did not find it until she had tried on every other extra small dress in the store. It was quite an experience I hope that some day when she gets married and we go dress shopping it will be just as much fun :) Madison's dress is the one on the bottom. The picture does not really do it justice. It has little tiny black polka dots on it a some black lace that comes out of the bottom. It is actually very pretty. Madison did inform me that when she is done with it she is going to get a mannequin and put it in her room to wear the dress. I am hoping that she will decide she likes it and want to wear it again.... wishful thinking I guess.

The dress in the top picture is a dress I found at the Goodwill. I was so excited it is from one of my favorite stores "White House Black Market". I know it probably had to have cost at least $150 new but I got it for $4.99..... I love the Goodwill!!!!!

Chocolate Covered Strawberry French Toast

Just wanted to share the pictures of our breakfast. After having the stuffed french toast for Mother's day I wanted to make it myself. I guess to try and see if I could do it better. It seems like everything always tastes better at home. But I will have to say that "Toast" was pretty close. I used french bread instead of Texas toast which I think makes a big difference. I also cut a slit in the french bread and stuffed it with a mixture of cream cheese, strawberry preserves and mini chocolate chips. I then topped it with fresh strawberries and a little bit of whipped cream.
Toast puts a layer between two pieces of bread and did not use fresh strawberries. I also added chocolate chips to it for a little bonus! Plus I think the name sounds a little more inviting...... Stuffed Strawberry French Toast versus Chocolate Covered Strawberry French Toast or maybe I should call it Strawberries and Cream French Toast hmmmmm............

Mothers Day

My Mothers day was so great! Chris got me Strawberry Cream Cheese stuffed french toast from my favorite restaurant in Davidson. It is a little place called toast and they have awesome breakfasts. Madison and Jordan both gave me really nice cards that they made. Madisons said that she could not afford to buy me anything but she would do anything that I wanted to help out. She put in parenthesis "restrictions may apply" She is quite the comedian! We had an amazing Mothers day service at church, the message was great as usual and they gave out hand painted chocolates to all of the moms. That was a sure sign that God was in the house yesterday!!! I included pictures of the chocolates, they not only looked gorgeous but they tasted better than any chocolate I have ever had. They were also giving free massages to all of the moms but I chose to pass that one up. I am really not in to letting strangers touch me, I think it is some sort of phobia.... I was just good with the chocolates.
We had lunch at "Nothing But Noodles" and then went home to relax. Chris got me a new outfit for running so I decided I would go use that after about 10 minutes of relaxing. We went to the track and raced, I came so close to running as fast as Chris but no such luck. I don't think that he would ever let that happen, not good for the ego! We are both really sore today though.

It was my first Mother's day that Spencer was not here. It was kind of strange but I am looking forward to seeing him at graduation in just a few weeks.

I really wish that my mom could have been here too. We are going to celebrate on June 2nd! It is going to be so nice to have a 4 day vacation with the whole family. I am still praying that Elizabeth will be able to come, her grandparents do not want her to. I keep praying that their eyes will be opened and they will see how much damage they are doing by not letting Elizabeth know the rest of her family. It is hard at times to not give up but we just keep finding strength in knowing that God will provide. I think the devil can see that Elizabeth and Chris are so close to having a good relationship that he will step in and mess it all up. I am so glad that we serve a God that is so good. As my favorite song says" If our God is for us than who can ever stop us and if our God is with us than who can stand against? I think that pretty much says it all.....

Madison took this picture of Miller checking on the zucchini plants. They are getting so big, I can't wait for zucchini! Our tomato plants are looking kind of sad, I am not a gardening expert but when the leaves start turning yellow and the plant is all wilted I think it is probably not a good sign. The weather has gotten so warm here and we had quite a bit of rain so the humidity is pretty high. I am not complaining though it sure beats the snow!!!

Where Are They Now?, Part 4: When God Crossed His Arms (Guest Speaker: Pastor Judah Smith)

Where Are They Now?, Part 4: When God Crossed His Arms (Guest Speaker: Pastor Judah Smith)

I wanted to share the message from Elevation yesterday. I have never heard the story of Joseph told like this and I don't think I ever will again. It was amazing and so funny!!!! The best part is I left church feeling like I understood everything I just heard.

Jordans First Place Finish

Jordan had another great weekend at the track!! He placed first in the 1500 with a time of 4:27 and placed second in the 800 with a time 0f 2:10. I am going to try and video record next week so I can post that.

Jordan had his first track meet today. He did so great!!! He ran the 1500 and placed 2nd with a time of 4:33, he also ran the 800 and placed 2nd with a time of 2:13. It was so nice to see him run again. We were at the track meet from 9:00 to 6:15, that was a long day!!! We met some really nice people and are very glad to be part of such a wonderful group. Actually pictured next to Jordan is "Jordan Phillips". He is the other distance runner on the team and they are very close in speed. I think it will be great for both of them to have someone to run with. He has a sister that is Madison's age so she has someone to hang out with on these long track meet days that we have coming up!
Spencer is at the prom right now, wish we could have been there to see him. Hopefully he will send pictures and I will be able to post those soon.

Our Weekend (52 photos), by Chris Wallace

I just wanted to share our photos from this weekend!!!!
Click here to view photos

Our Weekend

We had an wonderful weekend. Saturday we took the kids to Latta Plantation to fish and walk the trails. Spencer and Jordan did the fishing while Chris, Madison and I did a treasure hunt on one of the trails. It was a lot of fun and the best part was stopping for ice cream at Carolina Cones on the way back. They have a chocolate peanut butter ice cream that is to die for. I love the chocolate peanut butter ice cream from Baskin Robins but this is so much better.

We went to church on Sunday morning and listened to another great message by Pastor Steven. He was talking about "Spiritual Hearing Loss" , he used the fact that he is losing his hearing in one ear for comparison (and no it is not because of all the loud music at Elevation). It was really a great message though and we were really glad that Spencer could join us! We did have to meet his ride back to HHI right afterwards so that was kind of a bummer. We were really glad he got to come for a visit and are looking forward to the state qualifiers meet in a few weeks so that we can see him again.

Chris and I left for Asheville early Sunday afternoon for our marriage conference. We had such a great time! The hotel was a bit of a disappointment but the conference was worth it. We were expecting a really nice hotel, it was held at the Grove Park Inn and Spa. It is a historic inn and you could definitely tell! The bathroom was so small that you had to turn sideways to get to the sink and toilet. You could not get out of the shower without opening the bathroom door. The TV was so old that I am pretty sure it was original to the building lol...... They had an absolutely gorgeous indoor pool and waterfall but much to our dismay that was not included in the room. Oh you did get to use the pool and fitness center (the one that was located on the back 40 of the property) That is no joke! By the time you walked down the hill and then back up you would not even need the gym. They asked us when we checked out if we were happy with our stay and we told them that we were a little disappointed mostly with the size of the bathroom. The lady said that we could have told them and they would have moved us to a bigger room. We were thinking maybe when they see someone that is 6'4" checking in to one of the small rooms they should mention they were built for elves. I don't know, just a thought....................

We did get to see Kevin Leman and he signed our book. That was all worth it, he is such a great speaker. When we got out of our first session we had "homework". They told Chris that he needed to take me to a nice restaurant, open all doors for me and listen when I talked. I told them I am blessed because he already does all of those things! I am so grateful to have such a good man that takes such great care of me. After our conference was over we got to go tour the Biltmore Estate. We have been wanting to do that for several years and figured since we were there we may as well go. We had a great time there and hope to be able to go back again and stay at the Inn.

We also had great news from Elizabeth. She sent a text message on Sunday afternoon and said she would like to come and stay for the entire summer!!!! We are so excited, we have been praying for this for a very long time. Another great reminder that God is so great and he does answer prayers just in his time not ours. Please be praying for us, Elizabeth does have to try and talk her grandparents in to letting her come.
I think I am going to head to bed now, Chris and I did not sleep at all last night. The beds were like something out of motel 6 ( and this was supposed to be a 4 diamond hotel). I think I may feel better about it when I get a good nights sleep and the pain in my back goes away!

Our Friday

We just went to see a movie together. It was so nice to be together as a family again. The guys went to see Clash of the Titans while Madison and I went to see The Last Song. We went to our little movie theater in Davidson, it is so funny because they only have movie seats on the front row and the rest are office chairs with round tables in between. It is really nice though because it is only like 1/4 mile from our house. The Last Song was really good but incredibly sad. There was a lady behind us that was sobbing uncontrollably (like extremely loud). My sensitive daughter said when we left "geez it was just a movie what was she cying about?"

We went to the track at Davidson College after the movie was out and the boys ran. It was great to get to see them run together again. We are looking forward to the weekend. Tomorrow we are going fishing and Sunday after church Chris and I have our marriage retreat in Asheville. Sunday will be kind of bittersweet, we get to go to our conference that we have been looking forward to for so long but Spencer has to go back to Hilton Head. We are looking forward to seeing him at the state qualifiers meet in Columbia in a few weeks!!!!

Our Visit to the Citadel

We met Spencer at the Citadel in Charleston today. We got to tour the campus and talk to his future track coach. We were very impressed with all of it and we are so proud that Spencer has decided to go. Spencer came home with us and gets to stay until Saturday!!! We are so glad to have him here, we have missed him so much!!!!!

GREAT NEWS!!!!!

Spencer is going to give the Citadel a try!!!! We are meeting him in Charleston and going on a tour Wednesday. I will soon be posting pictures where I will be sporting a fashionable "Citadel Mom" tee shirt. WE ARE VERY PROUD OF YOU SPENCER!!!!!

More Garden Pictures

It does not look like Madden likes my mint garden. I think he would really like to use it as a sandbox

Purple Basil and Italian Parsley. We had it in our pasta tonight!!!

Our Growing Garden

Here are some updated photos of our garden. YES IT IS ACTUALLY GROWING!!!!!!!!

Jordan planted these beautiful flowers Saturday!

This is our newest member of the Wallace tomato family it is called the "Mortgage Lifter"

See the cute little baby tomatoes!!!!

Check out how much the Zucchini has grown. I can't wait to make grilled zucchini!!!!

Thought I would share the picture from our new garden. I know it is not very big but it is a start! The plants are actually growing so I think that is a good sign. The basil has gotten so big that we used it on our pizza last night!