Awesome Job Matt!!

We arrived home late Monday night from vacation just to turn around and head to St. Louis Tuesday morning. We wouldn't have done that for anyone, but Matthew (our nephew) in concert was definitely worth it.

Matt attends Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA on a pretty good scholarship for being apart of the group Won By One. During his senior year of high school he tried out and was asked to be apart of this elite group. This is his second year with them. We are so proud of him. This summer their concert tour landed them in St. Louis at McKnight Road Church of Christ. It was fabulous. Great job Matt! Matthew has just a few friends in town, so the place was packed.

Kalista and Lexi before the concert started. (Totally stole these from Nancy's blog, thanks Nan.)

Alissa with her kids and mine.

It was awesome to have the entire Earnhart family in town to watch Matt perform (minus Jared, Jene', and Malachi)

In this picture: Tim and his son Little Tim, Jeff, Marion, Matt, Blake and wife Karla, Susie, Monte, Josh, David, Heather, Ella, and new baby Nicholas, Jon, me, Lexi, and Grace. That's a lot of Earnharts!!!

Now if you missed the concert you should still get on-line and find a way to order their CDs. I don't know about previous years, but last year's and this year's CDs are great. Go, go ahead and order.

Just a long vent.

By "Vent" I am not referring to something in your floor that blows cold air, oh no, I am, referring to yelling, kicking, screaming, and some crazy symbols (*!#@*!, OK, those will only be in my head.)
Jon and I have lived in electronicville of 1985 for a long time. This was not by choice, it was what was necessary and food and diapers were higher on the list. When we moved here, in 2006 we graduated to the new millennium with the purchase of our first DVD player and added Internet to our monthly bills. (I know big freakin deal, but it was huge to me who, at the time, had not really been on the Internet at all for 3 years. Of course now some would same I am addicted, but I disagree, I feel I am just trying to make up for lost time. Where is this going, I don't know, back to venting.) With those two huge upgrades I was eyeing those new fangled DVR's, I mean come on how awesome would that be? Record what you want, when you want, pause live TV to wipe a bottom (not your own) or get a snack (for yourself or others), I mean fabulous! So, I looked into it. Here's where the problem starts. When we moved here we set up our TV, Internet, and home phone all through Centurytel (Charter cable will not do all three of those where we live)and our bill was very good with the discount for all three, I was pleased with them so I called to see about upgrading to a DVR. At the time they told me it would cost $199 (since I was currently a costumer, yet free to new people) just for the DVR and then my monthly bill would go up a few dollars. Two hundred dollars!! Are you freakin kiddin me? Especially when they (Dish Network) and DirectTV were giving the things away if I signed up with them! Needless to say I let them have it on the phone and told them it was ridiculous that they were punishing loyal costumers (of more then 4 years) and I was, was, well, real mad! So since I didn't want to switch and get rid of my bundle discount with Centurytel we passed and I have spent the last two years hearing stories and reading blogs about how awesome DVR was and blah, blah, blahsidy, freakin, blah!!!! (I was in definite DVR envy!) Now fast forward to the end of vacation.

While going through my huge stack of mail I saw a flyer for a free DVR and free movie channels for four months with DirectTV. I saw this as a sign (you will see it wasn't) that I needed to check back into this whole thing and compare switching costs. So, after an entire morning on the phone between Dish and Direct I learned this...Yes, DirectTV was offering those things for free, however, I had to pay 80 a month for those four months to get some special NFL package. (Not really a fan, Jon might of liked it but not for 80 bucks a month.) So, that was out. BUT, when I called Dish they told me they had lowered their prices of DVR's and it now was only $100 (one time fee) and then my monthly bill would go up $10, I think. So, I am sold, sign me up!! I scheduled them to come and install everything on Monday (yesterday) since this is my last week home. Sunday night the phone rings, and you guessed it, it was the installers from Dish. Their truck didn't make it's delivery (ya right, try you didn't order my stuff two weeks ago like you should have) and they would have to reschedule! Seriously, people! How hard is it?!? EVERYONE else in the whole stinkin country (OK, I know not everyone) has this, why is it so hard for me to get it? Of course when do they want to reschedule for, oh that's right any time next week WHEN I AM BACK AT WORK!! So, maybe, a week from this Saturday I can rest easy. Maybe a week from this Saturday the phrase, "Wait until the next commercial." will not exist in this house. Maybe a week from this Saturday I can have my own blog testimony about how DVR has changed my life, just maybe!!!!

The Best part of Vacation

"...We have a sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, 'The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.'"
I Samuel 20:42

That's what is on the back of our awesome shirts that Shane designed and surprised us with for our vacation. The front, in case you can't see, says "Summer Vacation 2008 Earnhart * Hines" and has a cool picture too. (You may not have known that Shane was an art major.) No, we did not all wear them out in public at the same time (my husband is way too cool for that). But we did get a picture.

Hillary applying Gracie's "make-up" (lip gloss) before the picture.As great it was to get away, it was even better to be with great friends. You know those friends that you can totally be yourself 100%. Those friends that have seen you at your worst and still love you. Those friends that you haven't seen for 6 months and yet you pick up right where you left off. Those friends where the wives are just as good of friends as the husbands. Those friends that you prearrange your children to marry each other just so some day you can be related. You know THOSE friends! Bonds like that are hard to find, and I certainly cherish ours. (One of my favorites from the whole vacation.) Well, that's it, vacation is OVER!!

**Sorry for the delay in posts (Cheryl--you have NO room to talk Miss 4-month-poster) but over the last week I have been to the farm to visit Mom and Dad, painted my bedroom, painted my dining room, rearranged some furniture, full day shopping, organized files, Lexi had a sleepover (Kalista), and dentist appts. I have been a little busy. This is our last week before heading back to school (earlier and earlier every year), so we are hitting the zoo, cleaning baseboards/carpet, yard work, getting regular cleaning and laundry caught up, and finally scrap booking (first time all summer, my plan was to try to get caught up--ya right, that's not happening). Well, I hope the summer is wrapping up nicely for everyone!

white shirt khaki shorts--you know the drill

Around town

**OK I totally know that every one's vacation pictures/stories are all about the same, but I don't really care how boring this post (and the last couple and more to come) is, it was fun for me and by gollie that's what this whole blog is for--me. That's right, I said it. So, if you might throw-up if you look at one more person's blog about their stupid vacation DO NOT SCROLL ANY FARTHER! However, if you enjoy looking at and or reading about my family and another family that you may or may not know you may proceed, however, you have been warned!! :-)

Another nice thing about Seagrove is that it is about 20 minutes one way to Destin and 20 minutes the other way to Panama City. Most nights after a shower we would head to one of those places for dinner and or shopping.
One place we went to last year and revisited this year was Sharkey's in Panama City. It is good food, reasonably priced and since it is right on the beach it has a great playground for the kids while we wait for a table--love that!


This picture was not planned at all, Vicki just happened to see Gracie and her "best-buddy" Hyatt walking like this into the restaurant. No, we, as parents, are not trying to set them up to get married in the future. Well..OK..maybe we put hints here and there. Who knows. Check back on this blog in 2035 (when Gracie is 30) and see if all the subliminal messages have worked! So far so good.:-)

This is one of my favorite pictures of the four of us.

Now that the LeeLee and Hayden are older, we went out one night just us adults. (The picture is a little blurry but that's what you get when the random waiter who could care less about you is asked to take the picture. I still had to include it to document the night without kids.)

Grace and Hillary on our last night in FL.

Break from vacation with a Gracie prayer.

Dear God,

Thank you for this day. Thank you for Mommy, Daddy, Lexi, and Gracie. Help us have all great day. ***long pause*** And Daddy, and Mommy, and Lexi, and Gracie, help us have all great day.***Lexi giggle***Please help us do all stuff *pause* that Mommy and Daddy said. Please help Lexi's drink *pause* to stay on the table. And help our food to be *pause* safety.
In Jesus name.....AMEN

Seagrove (not Seaside) Beach

Last year when we stayed at the same place we didn't realize we were actually in Seagrove until the Saturday we left, the whole time we thought, and told people that we were in Seaside. Now to our defense most paperwork that we got said Seaside and they are connected, come to a stop sign and to the right is Seaside, where they filmed "The Truman Show" and to the left is Seagrove, where we stayed and what we now consider the "ghetto" compared to Seaside. Don't get me wrong Seagrove is very nice, we love it, but compared to Seaside it is so ghetto! We went shopping in Seaside one afternoon to just look and there were things like jeans $240, cover-up $300, just CRAZY!!

The girls' van rocked, well at least it smelled better!

I love watching the kids run to the water for the first time for the week. ***Quick Gracie story...Either LeeLee or Hillary was holding her right before this but once they got to the sand put her down and said, "I am going to let you have your first steps on the sand." The REST of the week every time we went to the beach (everyday) Gracie would say, "I am going to" or "I can't wait to have my first steps." What? You only have one first steps...when I questioned her about this she blamed it on LeeLee and said, "Well, that's what LeeLee ALWAYS says." Um, no she doesn't!Hayden and Grace
Shane caught a crab and Lexi was very excited that she wasn't scared to hold it.
Everyday the water was different, green, clear, blue, full of jellyfish, choppy, and even sometimes a little calm.

Jon, me, Vic, Shane
They actually got that hole that Hyatt is working on big enough for all the kids to go through. When they all made it through Jon tried to see if the "bridge" would hold him....it didn't. Boogie board girls

Gracie too cool!

Gracie loved "her LeeLee." ***Quick Lexi story...Just yesterday when I told the kids that we were going to the dentist in a few days Lexi told me, "Oh good I want to get braces while we are there. They are so pretty." I wonder why she thinks that?!?!
Hillary and Lexi
I think even Jon, who hates the heat and sand, enjoyed our time on the beach this year. The weather was fabulous!

Up next....Around town.

Getting started

Before I get started I need to tell (those of you that know my children) that my kids did not get out of bed this morning till 9:30!! I know you are completely amazed, those poor babies were so tired! Even though they got very little sleep most of our trip they behaved very well, so kudos to them.
OK on to what we have been up to.....
We left here mid morning on July 3....destination The Hines house in TN. We made great time and immediately got settled in...to the pool. Gracie killed me! Last year she was totally unsure of the water, this year she got on her life jacket and walked directly over to the diving board and jumped off. She was freaked out for a second once in the water, but over all did really great.

Lexi and Hillary had a great time playing together.
Lexi would get on the diving board and then freak herself out and slide into the pool from the edge. I think she actually jumped off once.

Unfortunately, Vic and I took a dip in the pool around 1:30 A.M. thanks to our oh-so-funny (so they think) husbands.
On the 4th the kids took turns with LeeLee on her scooter until it started to rain a little.

It really started raining once it was time to BBQ, but we all managed under the tent.
We went to bed a little early (10ish) on the 4th because we knew we had a lot of packing and driving ahead of us on the 5th. Hyatt was just the perfect size to help Jon pack up the truck.
Stay tuned, Seagrove Beach pictures are up next (hopefully tomorrow).