October Birthdays, Take 1.....

We attended 3 Birthday parties in the month of October! Whew, we are Birthday'd OUT! But each party was very fun and very different! We went to a skating party, a party at Wild Things Farm, and good old-fashioned Thomas the Train themed, homemade cake, toys and lots of boys party! Of course, Connor had a ball at them ALL!  Here are a few pictures from Baylor's 7th Birthday Party at Crystal Palace! It was Connor's first time on skates, and he did great (because I made sure the wheels were as tight as they could get them lol!)

**side note: I tried everything under the SUN to get the majority of these pics to upload right side up. Unfortunately, my efforts were worthless, so please tilt your head to the left as you enjoy these pictures :)

Justin was on the speed skating team as a kid, so this was such a fun opportunity to share one of his favorite things with Connor. <3

And here is the Birthday Boy! All of 7 years old! Happy Birthday, Baylor! You have turned into quite the smart young man! And thank you for being so sweet to Connor, he sure loves you :)

As you tilt your head to the left, you will see that Connor participated in a little limbo action!

Look at daddy GO! Justin was SO FAST that all I got was this blur!

Birthday present time!

Oh, Justin....gross! Like Father......

Like Son....lol!

Please tilt your head to the right for this picture :) This is Connor skating without the "helper!" :)

Look, Connor is embarrassed by me LOL! I can't skate at all, but hey, I gave it a good shot! :)

And at the end of the party, the kids (and some adults.....yours truly included lol) participated in a little electric slide!

My Idol.....

I had the pleasure of hearing and meeting the Pioneer Woman at the Phoenix Expo Center in Fort Smith! I have been following The Pioneer Woman for a couple of years now, and I just love her recipes, photography, and internet personality! If you don't know who she is, please do youself a favor and check her out at www.thepioneerwoman.com. You can thank me later ;)

Mom was going to get us tickets as an early anniversary present (to me.....I suppose she is proud of me for being married for 6 years lol!), and her wonderful, amazingly awesome friend, Debbie, invited us to sit with her at her VIP table! I had not been that excited in a long time! We gladly accepted the invitation!

I took my cookbook to have it signed by The Pioneer Woman, and was so very excited to have my picture made with her.  Star Struck? You betcha!

Great-Birthdays!

Connor's Great-Grandmother celebrated her 86th Birthday on October 2nd! We celebrated with a delicious cake (that Great-Grandmother's dog, Annie, eventually found her way into when no one was looking....those flowers that Great-Grandmother so kindly requested on her cake? Gone in no time flat....the only evidence of those flowers was the orange icing on Annie's white coat.....nice lol!)

I love how Justin is putting bunny ears on Connor....never a dull moment :)

Connor's Great-Grandpa celebrated his 87th Birthday yesterday! My Mom and Aunt Marcy travelled to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to spend a few days with him.  Since we are so far away, we just gave him a call and sent him a virtual Birthday card!



We hope that everyone's Birthday celebration was fantastic, and we love you both so VERY much!



First Festivities of Fall!

Connor has had a VERY active week! First  up, a Wednesday afternoon trip to the fair with the Hossley boys (if you ask him, he will tell you, "Those are my boys")

Connor hasn't ridden anything more than the quarter Bob the Builder ride at Walmart, so I wasn't sure how well the ride would go. I was surprised and thrilled that he wanted to ride them all! He started out slow on the little train that goes around and around (at about 2 mph), and worked up to the fast race cars and the ferris wheel! He also rode the carousel, bumper boats (side note about those....I had to keep telling him to turn around and sit down because he was obsessing about the fact that the bumper boat didn't have a motor...lol....Mr. Mechanical), helicopters, and the huge slide....

Speaking of the huge slide....as a kid, I never EVER went down that thing.  Too high, too scary, and something about the potato sack turned me off.  The Hossley boys wanted to ride, so of COURSE Connor did too.  I told the lady taking tickets that I would just carry Connor's sack up to the top.  She says, "Oh no, he is too little to ride by himself, you have to go with him!" My heart dropped into my stomach.  Here I was, 30 years old, at the fair, terrified to ride down the slide.....oh yes, the sacrifices we make for our children.  I conquered my fear of the giant slide....screaming like a little girl all the way down while my 2-year old laughed at me. :) I am thankful there aren't any pictures of this particular milestone in my life ;)

Of course it's a must to have your picture made by the MONSTER TRUCK!

I think riding with Baylor helped to ease some of the ride anxiety. Baylor is always so sweet to take care of Connor :)



Macon got in on a little helicopter action! :)



When Connor told everyone about these race car's, he was fixated on the fact that there was no steering wheel lol



Saturday, the Scarlet's and the Hossley's hit up the Fort Smith Airshow! It happens every other year, so this was the first year for Connor to go! We went and bought Connor some ear muffs for the show because we knew the Thunderbirds would get a little loud :)

Before the big show, we walked through the giant cargo plane that we see from time to time in the skies of Fort Smith.  I had no idea it was THIS BIG! We snapped a couple pictures while we were in there....notice the look on Connor's face in the picure with me.....this is pretty much how he feels about me all the time LOL! :)

I love how we caught Benton in the middle of a sneeze LOL!

The boys were doing a little dance in front of the plane....notice the oldest kiddo thinks that the little ones are acting pretty lame lol :)

Suited up in ear-muffs, Bomb-Pop in hand, sunglasses on.....Ready for the Thunderbirds!

The few times they flew right overhead, vibrating the ground, Connor wasn't as big of fan as he was when they were far away :)  Good thing Mom and Dad are here to save the day! :)



 Much better view from up here! Thanks, Dad!

All-in-all, we had a great week....BUSY, but tons of fun! I love watching Connor experience new things :)

Family Fun in Branson!

Ok, I have been trying to post this for the last MONTH! I was finally able to load my pictures today.

Rewind 4 weeks:

Friday afternoon, I was itching to get out of town! I mean, come on....Justin and I haven't taken a trip since the Allison wedding in May (which was a blast, but far from relaxing...), and we have never taken Connor on a little over night adventure.  Plus, I am sick of the typical "shopping around Fort Smith" weekends that we usually have.  They are fun, yes, but just old. SO, Friday afternoon I started kicking the idea of going to Branson and hanging out at Branson Landing, eating at Joe's Crab Shack, visiting Bass Pro Shop, hanging out at the hotel pool, and just being a family....so that's exactly what we did!

Of course, we didn't get there without taking a SLIGHT detour.....see, Branson is a good 3 hour drive from Fort Smith, so we started thinking about making a shorter trip to Tulsa to check out the Jenks Aquarium.  We decided that would be an easier drive for Connor, so we packed up, got in the car, and headed to Tulsa.  I really had my heart set on Branson, but I tried to get "in the mood" for Tulsa. We were about 20 miles outside of Fort Smith when I just said, "I don't want to go to Tulsa, let's go to Branson..." (Keep in mind we were going in the COMPLETE opposite direction). We exited in Sallisaw and took the very long and scenic route to Branson, with a little stop in Fayetteville for lunch at Mellow Mushroom.  But hey, who cares if it took us 5 hours to get there, we had nothing to do but be together :)

 I have THE GOOFIEST boys lol!

 Sure enough, when we arrived it was time to jump on the bed!

The first thing we did (aside from jumping on the bed) was hit up the pool for a little sun!

After some good swimming (and a couple cocktails) we headed back to the room to get ready for a night out at the Landing! Branson Landing is a really nice outdoor shopping area with lots of good stores and restaurants.

He was enthralled by the fountains.  They do a show every hour where they coordinate the fountains to music.  And those large black pipes you see in the background are for the pyrotechnics! FIRE!



After a little shopping, we hit up Joe's Crab Shack! It's a great place to take kids  because it's a loud, fun atmosphere! He had a BALL!



When the waiter came around to put us in our bibs, Connor got scared and started crying (lol...poor guy, but it was kind of funny....) We managed to get on Daddy's bib.......



.......and Mommy's bib, but that was the extent of it. No bib for C! He wasn't having it.....



After Joe's, we stopped by to watch the big fire and water show.  Before the show started, Justin was teaching Connor how to make a wish in the fountain :)



And here we are, enjoying the show!



The next morning when we checked out, the bellman let Connor ride the luggage cart from the room to the car.  This kid was stylin' and profilin' :)



The morning before we left, we stopped in at the Bass Pro Shop! Connor loved the fish tank!

Then he rode the 4-Wheelers!



And last, but not least, Justin finally got to take Connor to RideMakerZ.  It's like Build-a-bear, only cooler ;)



Connor designed his very own Lightening McQueen (with Daddy's help of course). Here they are picking out the different parts to put it all together.



Time to consult with the RideMakerZ expert and build the car!



Little man even got to operate some tools!



This is one proud little boy :)



Clearly he had a great time on his first "Woad Twip" and loves his custom Lightening McQueen.



Office Rennovations.....

Well, it's official, The Justin Scarlet Allstate Agency is open for business! But it certainly wasn't without some hard work! Here are a few pictures from the major renovation in the "setting up the office" process!

Before: The entry way was small and closed off to the rest of the offices in the building, so........

Justin decided he needed to open it up a bit.  He tore down the front wall, bought a saws-all and decided to cut the next wall in half! Fortunately, Terry found us a reasonably priced gentleman to finish the job ;) Also, the hardwood floor in the entry way was very worn down and in terrible shape. Justin also wanted the hardwood look to go all the way down the hall, so.......

We had the floors replaced, applied a fresh coat of paint,and voila! Here is the finished entry way :) Well, sorta finished :)

Everyday it's still a work in progress, but for now, it's looking great! Stay tuned for more pics, or Just stop by and see us! :)

"Like" us on Facebook!

We are very excited to launch our Facebook page! If you're on Facebook, click the link below to "Like" The Justin Scarlet Allstate Agency page! We truly appreciate your support, and we would love an opportunity to earn your business!

www.facebook.com/thejustinscarletagency

Call or come by for a quote! We'd love to help you!

9220 Hwy 71 South, Ste 7

Fort Smith, AR  72916

479-646-9000