Double Doubles for Team Karl on the ball fields

Jackson Karl hit a double last night to help his team to a 6-4 victory!
Gracie Karl hit a double last night also, a screamer down the third base line. But then got called out by the ump for stepping on home plate when she hit the ball. There were some tears, but IT WAS A GREAT HIT! And we won, 5-1.

Looking for sunshine this weekend...Denise

I've Been Workin' on the Railroad...

Ok, I have not been working on the railroad, but a couple of busy bees have been. The boys took advantage of the long Memorial Day weekend for the official 'pounding in of the golden spike" above. Gracie was the photographer.

The first run of the full track! Check out the awesome mountain.

Layout curves from left to right and goes behind where Jack and Pete are standing.

Left side.

Straightaway behind Pete and Jack.

We will document more progress as things are added!

Hope you all had a relaxing and fun weekend! We had rain...D

Conway Boy Wins American Idol!

If you watched the season finale of American Idol last night, you saw Conway's own Kris Allen WIN! There was a huge watch party in downtown Conway, complete with live feed to the show, tons of screaming fans, and fireworks after the announcement! We were at home watching, and Gray and I were holding hands and screaming and jumping up and down and screaming in our front yard. Pretty exciting!

Sports update...Gray's team won on Tuesday night in a huge comeback. Jack's team lost, but he had two base hits and stopped a ball in the outfield.

Love to all...D

The video

click above to see the sweet boy's entrance with Abby. Cade is a college football player at Harding University, so they had Jack carry in a football that said 'Ringbearer' also.

Isn't he the cutest ringbearer...

...EVER?!? His favorite part was that he got to ride to the reception with the whole wedding party in the black stretch Hummer!

I will try and post the video of him walking down the aisle tomorrow...D

Wedding Continued...Bubble Girls

In case you missed yesterday's post, please refer back for footage from the rehearsal dinner. Today I present the three cutest 'Bubble Girls' you will ever see. Madison and Riley are our next door neighbors, and Ashton took care of all kids for nearly 3 years after school. Ashton was sweet enough to include them all in the fun! Madison is 10 and is Gray's BFF, and Riley is 8. Yes, that is Gracie, with the manicure, pedicure, high heels, and curled hair! The shoes came off at the reception, and the second we hit the hotel room, she was back in a pony tail, Razorback ball cap, and Tshirt.

Did I mention that I blew a tire in Bentonville, and ended up getting 4 new tires? Denise

King of the Ring

Wow, lots to share from the weekend. I think I will have to do it in multiple days to get all the fun-ness in. These first pics are from the rehearsal dinner. It was held at the summer bible camp that Cade and Ashton met at when they were 13. It was an outdoor pavilion with a picnic style dinner. Everyone in the wedding party had a Tshirt that had their role printed on it - cute idea. You can see a picture of Jack's wedding gift to Ashton and Cade - he drew them a picture of them on their wedding day. If you look closely, you can see where Jack actually drew Cade standing on a box in the picture - he doesn't like that Cade is not much taller than Ashton! It was too funny! I loved the Razorback cake! Oh, and Gracie was a hoot. She made a Tshirt to wear to the party that said ASHTON ROX, #1 Fan. And on the back it said Cade is Okay...More to come...D

Going to the Chapel...

This will be my last post until Monday. We are heading up to Rogers, AR tomorrow morning to share in the weekend festivities of Ashton and Cade's wedding! And just as we are leaving, the Jackson 5 will be arriving! I have already alerted the neighbors that our house will be used!

Full story on Monday...Denise

Sports Update from Last Night

1. Gray - posted a 9-0 win, starting pitcher, 1 double, 1 walk
2. Jack - posted a 3-0 win, two base hits and some fast running, talking to his friends in the outfield and making mud prints with cleats.
Snacks consumed - nachos, hot dog, popcorn, two blue slushies.
4 pairs of muddy shoes...Denise

Gracie is going to STATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At her first long course swim meet (50 yard pool) today in LR, Gracie gave me another mother's day present - she qualified for the AR state swim meet in the 10U 50 yard breast stroke!!!! Her score at the end is on the board for lane 1, but the score board was wrong - her time was 51.85 seconds. WE ARE SO PROUD OF HER! State is the last weekend in July.

Enjoy the video...Denise

Queen for a Day

I have been showered with gifts! Pete stole my car the other day and had a brand new Kenwood CD player installed. Gracie worked her little heart out for two weeks in the privacy of her closet and made me the sweetest scrapbook of pictures of her and me. And Jack wrote me a card all by himself and gave me a plant. I love my family!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers in my life! To my mom, thanks for always being there for me and for being the highest example of what a mother is. To my mother in law, thanks for your love and acceptance, and for raising my favorite man in the whole world. And to Terri, Deidre, Krista, and Brie - we all lead the craziest and busiest of lives with these kids, remember to treasure every moment.

Jack and I went to Ashton's graduation from UCA yesterday. Ashton's mom Beth gave Jack an air horn to blow when Ashton got her diploma. You can imagine...Denise

Sports Update for the Week

Both Jack and Gray's games were rained out on Tuesday night. Incidentally, it has rained in Conway 10 out of the last 10 days. Last night, Gray's team got to play the late game. She was back at shortstop, battling a sore palm while batting, due to some ripped open blisters from the monkey bars at school. And our catcher got overheated and puked on the side of the dugout. We lost 3-1, next game is next Tuesday. Jack has a game on Tuesday also.

Gray has her first long course swim meet on Sat/Sun this weekend down in LR at UALR. Long course means they swim in an Olympic 50 yard length pool. She is nervous, but we are confident she will do well. She will be swimming the 50 and 100 free, 50 and 100 back, and her personal fav - 50 and 100 breast. Pete is going with her on Sat, so Jack and I will attend Ashton's graduation from UCA. Sunday we will all go to swim meet day 2.

Wishing for sun...Denise

BIG DAY FOR CONWAY

Reason Number 1 - Kris Allen, Conway's own, has made it to the Top 3 in American Idol! He comes home tonight, is giving a concert is LR at 11:30 tomorrow, parade in downtown Conway at 5:00, concert in the park at 5:30. You have never seen a small town so PUMPED UP!

Reason Number 2 - great for Conway, Acxiom, and yours truly - My account, Dun and Bradstreet, that I have been working on so hard for the past 3.5 years, just signed a $250 million dollar deal with Acxiom for outsourcing. Yes, you read that correctly...250 million. WAHOO!

Oxford Learning - 4, Ridout Lumber - 5 in a great game!

Gray and Alexa

So...the first softball game was on the same night as Jack's graduation. Game started at 6:00, Jack had to be at graduation at 6:30 for a 7:00 start. Gracie was our starting pitcher - first game, first time to pitch. You would not have known it by looking at her! She got right out there and was ALL business. We got about 15 minutes into the game when it started raining with lightning. After a 15 minute rain delay in the dugout, Jack and I had to leave. Obviously, Gray had to stay. They ended up with game-on about 10 minutes later. All in all, she pitched 4 innings and struck out 3 batters on pitching strikes. Not bad for your first game! We lost 5-4, but our team will be coming on strong, I can feel it. The league commissioner came over to talk to me after the first inning about her pitching approach - seems we have one more thing to correct with her feet on the rubber. Anyway, he wanted me to know because "she has a lot of potential!"
In addition to this, Gray had a government test on the branches of government, Congress, Senate, etc this week - WHICH SHE ACED!
Jack's first game was last night. They won 3-1. No hits yet for Jack, but he had good swings.

Raining on Toad Suck Daze...D