March Madness

Shame, shame…. I know. It has just been so hard to carry out your daily routine without the latest Garrison Gazette issue.. haha. I will try to make this one good. We have just been a couple of busy little bee’s. It all started with……

In my last post I ended with a thought that Bentley hurt his leg when he fell off of the couch when the doorbell rang… well… Our poor sweet baby has a broken leg. HE BROKE HIS FEMUR! Can you believe that! Man.. it has been a mess. He is still crate bound for a while. We are going on 3 weeks. It has seriously been like having a child. We get up like 3 times a night to a crying pup, let him out to potty, and have to plan ahead to give his daily rounds of meds. Lord have mercy! We have been alternating who gets to sleep on the couch to tend to the dog. At least one of us needs to get some good rest. It can get a bit cranky at The Garrison house if we don’t. =)………………. Or if I don’t…….. haha….



Two weekends my friend (and pledge sister) got married in Brinkley Arkansas. I was going against all odds to make it down there. It was the weekend that we got our second dose of a considerable amount of ice/snow mix. Of course mom was updating me all week of the blizzard that would be coming through and saying that roads were already shutting down for the next two weeks because it was just going to be that bad…. Haha… I couldn’t miss it though. Clay was given the option to go to the men’s conference at our church or go to the wedding. Needless to say… I drove down to little rock to get my BFF J-sho by myself! Haha. We had a girl’s trip together. The roads got so bad that I wasn’t able to make it back to Fayetteville so I spent the night with the Shooks. Jennifer got up and made my favorite breakfast! Waffles!! How did she know I was checking out the closest “waffle distributer” on my phone! Lauren was a beautiful bride.











So that next week I was informed on the March 4th that Kayla would be getting engaged on that Friday night the 6th. Talk about the HARDEST SECRET TO KEEP! Oh my goodness. I was sooooo excited. I was in charge of rounding up friends for a engagement celebration in Little Rock. I am so excited for these two love birds. I am going to have to give a shout out to the man that made it all possible… Mr. Scott Keith. He had the sweetest way of popping the question. Kayla was ecstatic and definitely surprised! I can’t wait for their big day. Kayla is one of the best friends that I could have ever asked for!!!!! I have not seen the couple since the engagement so these are just random pictures that I have of them.







So this past week we had Kami’s state tournament. Shiloh made it all of the way this year. I was a nervous wreck at the Final’s. From the second we walked into the big arena to the second the game ended I was a basket case. The memories of high school basketball came rushing back. The mixture of excitement and fear all rolled into one ball…. As was my stomach….. I told Clay that when we have our own kids I may have to sit out in the car and listen to it on the radio. I mean.. my hands were sweating bullets and my heart was pounding out of my chest. Kami, on the other hand, looked calm as a clam. There were a few moments in the game that she showed some “nervousness.” But she was solid all night. Nothing got to her. I am amazed. I would always panic. I would choke under the goal. I would fall countless times. Not Kami, she would post up.. rebound… shoot.. pass.. and never be phased.. I am ridiculous because my hands are sweating as I am typing this paragraph. Hopefully I don’t ruin this keyboard. But anyways… SHILOH WON STATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow, it was so exciting! I am so proud of Kami! A great night that will never be forgotten.




















We just got back from a weekend getaway to Branson to celebrate our two year anniversary! Hard to believe it. Well, our actual anniversary was Tuesday the 17th. A lot has happened this past year for us. Clay got a job, we got a house, I graduated with my Master’s, I passed my boards, I got a job, etc.. big stuff.. fun stuff… make you a nervous wreck kinda stuff. Haha. But we have survived and have been blessed with so many wonderful things. I highly recommend the Welk Resort in Branson. What I don’t recommend is having ….what sounded like the “Duggar family”…. playing guitar hero/rockband…. Or chase… or monkeys jumping on the bed… or whatever the heck they were doing….. right above you. I was so glad when those kids tired themselves out and went to bed!

Birthday wishes

Oh my. What a quick weekend. When we got off work Friday we decided to go down to Lewisville to celebrate Zack and mom's birthday. We had it all planned to just grab our pre-packed bags and run out the door to get down there before midnight. Well, little did we know that our little Bentley would potty in his crate all day and then roll around in it. haha. Ah, the joys of puppy parenting. So we cleaned the crate and gave him a bath before we got on the road. But we made it around 10:45 ish on Friday night.

Ok, back to the impressionable blog.... I hate to admit how impressionable I am... But, I recently went to my first Mary Kay party. I had the most fun a girl can have. I mean... we were playing with skin care, make-up, and make-up organizers. I am a sucker for everything make-up or skin care. I loved it so much that I signed up to be a consultant. I came home with a ton of product that I LOVE and a starter kit for all my makeovers that I give. Clay once again... just rolled his eyes..... haha. So I say all of this to tell about what we did on Saturday. Mom, Kaitlen (zack's girlfriend)and I had the best time playing in the make-up. They loved every bit of it. We spent hours playing. Don't I have a pretty mom!



So once we got all dolled up we went out to celebrate their birthdays at On The Border in Texarkana. Mom tried to be all sneaky and tell them that it was Zack's birthday. So they come out singing and clapping and make Zack stand up. Well, I just wasn't going to have that. I said.. "Oh, no, no, no. It's her birthday too! Come on Lizzy stand up." Well at that point our waitress yells. HEY ON THE BORDER, CELEBRATE WITH US TONIGHT AND SAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ZACK AND LIZZY. We died laughing. They had them up and clapping and embarrassing them to all ends. It was perfect.
















We got home last night and we had some friends over to watch the Oscars. Of course I pulled out my makeup and did red carpet makeovers! haha. Lots of fun. But our poor little Bentley managed to jump off the couch and hurt his back leg. So I had to drop him off at the vet this morning for a x-ray. I'm such a sap. I cried when I got in the car.

Speaking of sap…This weekend allowed us to visit old memories. So we took a walk down memory lane on our way back home last night.

We drove around Lewisville (which took 2 seconds) and it made me think of:
fun flag football games on Saturday, fishing, band practice, fun teachers, basketball games, basketball practices, football games, pep rallies, homecoming corsages, parades, banquets, church activities, mission trips, games we made up for fun, four wheeler riding, car washing, school trips, and good friends. The list could go on. Looking back I realize how special that time was.

We drove around Conway and UCA campus and it made me think of:
freshman move in day, delta zeta, on campus jobs, parties, stressing, studying, pep rallies , football games, pledging, hanging out with my girls, Spring 2003, late night adventures, leadership conferences, hours spent in the student center, cafeteria food that I would borrow a meal card from somebody to go eat, intramural games, staying up late, walking to class and running into somebody to talk to, gross dates, gross anatomy, good dates, ACTS, meeting clay, getting engaged at the fountain, taking engagement pictures on campus, moving 13 million times and having 13 million wonderful roommates. Ah.. I loved that place. and of course I teared up. But so many good memories.

But before I leave.... I must post this last picture... I have been warned to not do it. I have been threatened with my life. But I can't help it. My dad is growing out his hair a bit.... But in my opinion it was long enough to be braided or pulled back into a ponytail.. so this is what we decided to do. Sorry mom. I couldn't resist. The following picture is no way directly related or correlated to Elizabeth Ann Lamkin. In fact, I don't even know if she would recognize any involved with the the picture. View the following at your own discretion:








Word up, dawg!

My love's

Hope everybody had a great weekend. Clay and I told each other we weren't going to go all out this year. We thought we would save some money and celebrate Valentine's with a simple card and some candy. Little did I know that he had been plotting my present for a few weeks. Call us crazy but he got our second Maltese to complete our family. Maddie needed a playmate while we are gone during the day. They both just brighten our day so much. So now we have Maddie and Bentley ESPN Garrison. haha. Clay finally got his wish. Now we won't have to name our first born son ESPN. Here are some fun pictures we took this weekend.







Things I love:
1. Clay and our pups, family, friends
2. Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings
3. Snow days
4. Sunny days
5. Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Milkshakes
6. Tide with Febreeze
7. Leaves (Oil fragrance from Bath and Body works. THE BEST)
8. Massages
9. Kids singing
10. a clean house

Things Clay loves:
1. Whitney
2. family
3. Razorbacks and the Braves
4. all things sports
5. ESPN
6. Ribs

Kara and Lauren's Bachelorette Party- Big Nashville Style

What a fun trip!First of all, let me clarify that it was a double bachelorette party for two friends that were not marrying each other. Lauren is getting married 2-28 and Kara 5-9. It started off a little shaky. I was so nervous to fly by myself (since it was my third time to fly in my whole life) but I managed to work up the courage to do it. Clay dropped me off at the airport and bless his heart...he had printed out and highlighted all the terminal and gate information for me. I boarded the plane and had to connect in Chicago?? weird.. and then fly to Nashville. Lucky me, because I got to sit by a snooring middle aged tattoo man with a cut off shirt and from Chicago to Nasville I sat by a lovely obese woman eating pork rines, fritos, and popcorn the WHOLE way. I held back the vomit and once we landed a huge relief was lifted. I had made it! So I hurried to go get my bags and called my friends to pick me up. I sat at the baggage claim waiting... and waiting... and watching the same yellow hard case suitcase go round and round. The frustration was building... I just knew it, with my luck.... my luggage was lost. Sure enough... It was. So here I am standing in the lost luggage office trying to hold back bitter words because this lady feeding me the standard "lost luggage" company line did not show any real remorse.... So I thought she needed a little insight into how it really feels.. So I lit into her with some big ole...... sappy tears. I couldn't believe myself. But I swear I was just tired and was going to have to wait a little longer at the airport because my friends were running a few hours late and at this point I had gone too far and couldn't get back into the main terminal which was where the food was. So two Whitney's you might avoid: a hungry or tired one. (Clay will attest to this one) Oh well, I finally found this little bar lounge like area called Tootsie's in the main lobby and parked it for a bit. But soon my friends arrived and I was able to get my luggage later that night and the weekend picked up. haha.

We had a weekend full of sight seeing, massaging, shopping, dancing,80's cover band-ing, eating, and much needed quality girl time. I have the best friends in the world. Here are some pictures of our weekend. Saturday night we ate at the Wildhorse Salon and we were told that we had to leave at ten because it was being used for a "private" party. So of course Mallory had to get to the bottom of the story. We had it all planned out to hide out in the bathroom for a while and just happen to join this "private" party. We were thinking it just had to be a celebrity. Sure enough we see camera's getting set up, lights flashing, and a big ole red carpet. Well thats all it took. We were all on that red carpet getting our picture taken and realized this was a Flymajor.com and XKlusiveaccess.com event. google it. You will understand. Good times. Good times. We had a blast. I love, love , love my friends.