this will have to do....

the connection at this hotel is horrible! i've tried 3 different times to make a slide of our ski trip pics but i lose everything in the middle of trying to do so i'll post a few pics and make a slide when i get back home...arrrgghh! got that word from my sis:)

we're here! FINALLY!

We left around 8:45am Wednesday morning, stayed the night in Amarillo, TX. Left there at 8:15 this morning and got to Pagosa Springs, CO around 5:00pm. and mattie asked on average about 4 times every hour if we were in Colorado yet. the only time she was quiet was if she was watching a movie. well, it's 10:30 CO time and i'm off to bed. brian thinks it's a sin if you don't make first tracks. and ya think i'm kidding. let's just say i'll be getting up at the booty crack of dawn. probably even before dawn.

on our way...

we are in amarillo, tx on our way to colorado. mattie is about to drive me crazy. she asks about every 20-30 min., "are we to the hotel yet?" and tomorrow it'll be "are we to colorado yet?" we are making her wear a helmet this year which she won't be happy about but oh well. she's hard core all the way down the mountain. she doesn't have any fear. which is scary. i'll be posting pics of christmas tomorrow. and then pics of our ski trip in a few days.

hope we make it....

memories....at Christmas Time

the smell of doublemint gum in my purse...MawMaw Willhelm

the smell of jergan's lotion and leather...Grandaddy Richie

now don't laugh...cigarette smoke and a window unit turned to ice cold...Memaw

Homemade mashed potatoes, candied yams, & a semi-truck...PawPaw

family at a table full of food...Granny Brown

Redman Tobacco and blowing bubbles w/ my gum...Granny Richie

Fall leaves and the first cool spell...high school football and ETBU

Bicyclist riding on a warm afternoon...Dad

the smell of candles burning....Mom

hand crafted gifts and water parks....Connie

Merry Christmas from the Britt's

Merry Grinchmas from the Britt's!

and all that stuff.

friends!

it is very uplifting to have friends that lift you up when you're down - thank you to my friends that lifted me up yesterday:)! our family is going thru what i like to call CRAP. if you don't read Brock Gill's blog do so now! you will be encouraged and challenged and entertained daily. (God has a hand on he and Auny and of course on all my friends but these two get to spread the gospel in such an abstract cool way.) he has been posting about friends that are going thru....CRAP....don't ya love that word... Michawn especially does:). he had a lot to say but basically challenged his "readers" to bless others. i kind of took it as and this is my take on it not necessarily what he was saying...stop feeling sorry for your self and bless someone else. i know there are way worse situations out there in the world so i need to take my eyes off my problem and be a blessing to someone else.

our church has been trying to raise money for 2 families w/ 11 kids between them this Christmas. We only had $50 raised last week so our pastor challenged the youth and college to try and raise the money. well between those two groups and a couple adult ss classes and few other adults we raised over $500. i personally think this is awesome. see our church is a very giving church family and we raised this money plus did the Christmas Shoeboxes w/ the Franklin Graham group...sent a care package to a group in the military...the staff has baked goodie bags and taken them to all the families in the church....on and on and on.

Brian is taking Mattie w/ him to pass out his goody bags to his list of people as we speak. they are wearing santa hats while they deliver:) above all else this season i want mattie to really get a grip on what Christmas is. not santa, not snowmen, not reindeer, not to want want want want, but to give give give and know the ultimate gift was Christ. all that other is fine but i don't want Christ to get hid by all the wrapping paper and christmas cartoons ya know. of course we do santa but ask her why we celebrate Christmas and prayerfully she'll say b/c it's Jesus' birthday. unless she just saw something on tv that she wants...hahahahaha. anyway, that's all i have to say.

so today is a better day. gotta take my eyes off my problems and think of others. check out brock's blog, michawn's blog - missionary in Brasil and kays blog - missionary in Peru. and of course we're all missionaries right?.

Kay and Trent...this is Auny's sister

Brock, Michawn and Brian....do you remember this pic Michawn? what child had you just had?
Michawn, Auny, and Me...just before Ryder was born!

blah blah blah

that's how i feel right now. i feel like the Grinch when he said, "ho ho ho and all that....stuff". i'm going to a christmas party at my friend's tonight so i should be excited right. i feel guilty for working, i should be at home. but i have to work...financially. the job is easy and i get to see brian a lot more. but not as much as you'd think. i made a rule a few weeks ago...we can't talk about work once we are in the house. i made the rule for me mainly, much to brian's delight. mattie isn't doing so good in school. her teacher says she's smart just immature. i think we are fixing to have to decide if she should be held back. last year she didn't do good the first half then after Christmas it was like a light bulb went off...."oh now i get it". we shall see. i'm going to post some pics of random stuff. i should be thankful for the blessings in our lives and i am but blah.

anyone ever feel like that?

ho ho ho

Bob Humbug the Christmas Grump....and Mia Mouse

my only sister

friend
family
beautiful
funny
smart
brave
creative
talented
writer
strong
dependable
awesome mom
devoted
open minded
mercy
kind
loving
responsible
opinionated
protector
no one else can talk about her but me:)
someone i admire
........

Earp Christmas Slideshow!

When you have kids....the mom's get left out of the picture unless they're the grandmother. notice there aren't any pics of me and my sis, connie! oh, well. our kids are our best asset besides our hubbies!

candy maker i'm not!

i'm gonna stick to desserts and goodies that do not require a candy thermometer or boiling sugar and butter to a caramel color! i wasted a pound of real butter and too much sugar b/c i obviously don't know what caramel looks like. last year me and my sister tried to make our dad pop corn balls...lets just say we ended up w/ sweet gooey popcorn. it was good but no "ball" in site:). i tried to make her pecan pralines last year too....can we say pecan praline soup! wasted about a lot of pecans and brown sugar. and for those of you that cook, pecans are VERY expensive unless your grandmother has a tree in her back yard and you own an old fashioned nutcracker - no not the ballet:)! when we lived in groves, texas me and one of my friends from church started a "holiday baking" tradition each year. Her name is Mrs. Em and she and her husband have since moved to the Dallas area. but when we lived in groves, we would take one day during the holiday season and she would let me...teach me...how to bake different candies and other goodies. we always had a great time. sure do miss that time, but i at least i have my memories! and i can make a mean buttermilk pie! another lady from groves would make me and brian burnt almond toffee. that's what i was trying to make this weekend :(. i'll just leave making that particular candy to Mrs. Monell. maybe some of my friends from friendship will read this and tell mrs. monell and she'll send us some in the mail!!! if liana, matt, will or caleb read this tell her our address is 257 harrison rd. ruston, LA 71270!

here at calvary, i'm the office assistant aka secretary :) and this year we as staff are going to bake goodies in our church kitchen then take them to the shut-ins in our church. i for one am very excited. me and mrs. kathy w. were just talking the other day about wanting to get in the kitchen and bake. now we get too:).

i'll be posting pics of our earp christmas later. we had a great time. the weekend wasn't long enough but we made due w/ the time we were given!

Our House! Is a very, very, very fine house!

This is the second home we've owned since we've been married! I"ll post pics of our first home in Groves, Texas later. We've been in this one since April 2006. These were obviously taken before we moved in. It's a great home. We love it!

Earp Christmas...a new tradition!

Every other year we TRY to stay home for Christmas. This year my family...Mom, Dad, Connie, (Levi is running a half marathon on Sunday morning..."Go Levi"! he's been training for this for a few months now so he won't be there) Mia, and Jules..are coming to my house to celebrate the "Earp Christmas" early. I hope this becomes a tradition. They'll be her today sometime! I have absolutely loved getting the house ready for them. My mom-in-law has been cleaning and washing like CRAZY to help me out! If she hadn't been here i wouldn't have been able to clean, decorate, and keep my sanity! anyway, today Brian is putting up the lights on the porch...the finishing touches! We are going to eat "Canes" tonight! Brian is going to flip b/c he can't eat meat. We have been doing the "40 Day Revolution" (spend 40 days serving, praying, blessing, and telling other about Jesus - 1 day that leads to 40 days that leads to a lifestyle that can change the world)at church and we have to fast from something for 40 days. he picks meat...all meat! It has been getting pretty difficult but he's done and awesome job. he even offered to grill steaks for my family tomorrow night. it might just send him over the edge if Canes doesn't tonight! Anyway, we'll open presents tomorrow morning, hang out, eat lunch...poor man's stew - hamburger meat instead of stew meat :), the kids will play maybe go to the park tomorrow afternoon, eat steaks and potatoes tomorrow night (Donna and Bobby Dowling's steak marinade woohoo - i got that word from my friend Michawn:) ). i've got all kinds of CHRISTmas goodies i'm attempting to make this afternoon if there's time. Them we'll go to church on Sunday, eat lunch, and they'll leave :( i know we're gonna have a blast....new traditions are fun! here are some pics of my fab fam!

Grandmother, Matt, and Ryder

Poppa and Matt


Grandmother, Matt, and Ryder


Grandmother, Jules, Ryder

Poppa, Jules, and Ryder

The Sistas!

Levi and Connie

Future LSU Cheerleader & Football Player:)

I married into a family that LOVES LSU. I'm a TEXAN and my beautiful children are TEXANS- the other holy land...just kidding not being serious:). I regularly correct people here at our church when they say something about me being from from LA. I never would have thought I'd be cheering for a Louisiana team. It was especially difficult on Thanksgivng when they played Arkansas. (My PawPaw was from Arkansas and a huge Razerback fan) My dad jokingly said that if he were here he'd have passed out watching me root for any team other than Arkansas. Of course he and my memaw LOVED Brian so they would have fogiven me! (They might have even cheered for LSU!) Well, as all college football fans know this season has been incredible and we've watched almost every game. Can't wait to see them play at the Dome!!!!! Also, one of our youth, Justin Soileau, really got Mattie into LSU on our youth ski trip last year. She was singing all kind of LSU songs by the time that trip was over. Anyway, back to the pics. Brian's bro, Shawn, really loves LSU and got this cheerleading outfit for Matt. Here's Matt showing off her cheering abilities:)






"Geaux Tigers!"

my family!

<
this is brian, my more awesome than words can describe husband. i love this pic of him b/c it gives a perfect idea of who he is: absolutely hilarious and a blast to be around! we got together on March 4,1996 and were married four years later on March 4, 2000. He is an awesome husband, dad, and youth minister! He loves: the Lord above all, his family, his students, skiing, skiing, skiing, bicycling, camping, anything outdoors, and watching UFC. There was a time when i REFUSED to watch UFC (ultimate fighting championship) but about a year ago i gave in and now i'm hooked! I love to hear him laugh. It's one of those laughs that when you hear it you know it's him. He's real. what you see is what you get. he doesn't hide who he is. i just love to be around him. he's a people magnet. when you see him there's pretty much always a group around him laughing and having fun. he's sincere, caring, loving, fun, devoted to the Lord his family and his job, dependable.... i could go on and on but i'll stop for now. Here are some pictures of our family. As you can tell we love to have fun!!!


Brian and Matt in the lodge after a day of skiing hard!








obviously she loves her picture taken....taking a break from skiing!








Brian and Matt night skiing at Keystone.

Me, Brian, and Matt night skiing at Keystone.

Matt skiing at Wolf Creek!



Water....this is a love that Mattie and I share.







The family hiking in Arkansas this summer!


Ryder Creek Britt - Easter '07

Me and Ryder


Brian and Ryder...he's our man baby:)

"watch me run fast!"

He's all boy!