Thankful Thursday: AR State Special Olympics

I haven't done a Thankful Thursday in a few weeks...

I'm slacking, I know!

Today I am Thankful for: 

SPECIAL OLYMPICS

My oldest brother has Down Syndrome. He has competed in Special Olympics since he was in elementary school. I am SO thankful that Special Olympics was created for people with special needs. There are events for EVERYONE, no matter what the handicap. 

We were blessed to be able to travel to Searcy this past weekend to watch Joshua compete in the State Special Olympics at Harding University.

Joshua used to do more running events, but over time he got hooked on power-lifting. 

My dad even got certified as his coach and they go to the gym just about every day.

Article in Bryant Daily

(that's my Dad spotting Joshua)

Joshua got to compete in the bench press and the dead lift. It is AMAZING to see people who are physically and/or mentally disabled get up there and perform. There was a man (who could BARELY walk, y'all!) that shuffled up behind the bar and then dead-lifted 300 lbs. THREE HUNDRED POUNDS! Isn't that insane?! I can't remember Joshua's final bench press weight, but his final dead lift was 205. TWO HUNDRED AND FIVE POUNDS. 

Did I mention that he is 5'0'' and about 125lbs? 

HE IS SO STRONG.

It is just amazing. 

It puts so much in perspective. If you ever have a chance to attend any type of Special Olympics event, you really should. It's life-changing. It shows you that you can do anything you put your mind to, no matter your physical or mental limitations. And if you aren't sure if you can, you must at least TRY.

There is no such thing as failure in Special Olympics. There are no losers. 

The motto for Special Olympics is:

"Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be faithful in my attempt."

Pretty good advice for anyone, don't you think?

Here's some pictures...

my favorite picture. Look at that face!!

my 2nd favorite. He's smiling bc he knows he has it! :)

3 gold medals (Bench, Dead-lift, Combo)

Needless to say, we are super proud of him!

-Holly

"Stay-cation"

It's about to be a stressful summer of

playing "The Waiting Game"...

aka:

I'm waiting on grad school responses,

Aaron is looking at other jobs,

and we are looking at a potential move.

We got our lease extended until July (Praise the Lamb!) so we wouldn't be so rushed in finding another place to live IN CASE we move. So with all the stress coming our way, Aaron decided to take off work. We had tossed around the idea of going somewhere on a mini-anniversary trip, but ended up staying NWA and doing a "Stay-cation", which we were both initially bummed about...but y'all, it was a blessing in disguise. We got to sleep in and relax. We celebrated our anniversary with a fancy dinner/night out, we went to the movies, we (FINALLY) went to Crystal Bridges, and we finally went shopping for Aaron! YAY! And last Friday, we picked up the "surprise" bachelorette cake for one of my best friends and we headed back down to Central AR. My big brother also had the State Special Olympics and we made it to Searcy JUST in time to watch his Powerlifting events!

Side note: I'm pretty sure I gained 5-10lbs this week because we ate out so much.

It was worth it ;)

anniversary dinner

tried burger life for the 1st time

@ Crystal Bridges

We had a great week! So happy to have a week off from any kind of schedule! Plus it was Memorial Day weekend, so we even got to visit my grandparents and spend some time at the lake house in Hot Springs! And a good time was had by all!

-Holly

1 Year Anniversary!

May 21st, 2012.

Ladies & gents, we have officially made it through year one!

Our first year of marriage has been amazing. 

I improved my cooking skills and Aaron has proved himself to be quite the handy man.

(as I write this, he is working on one of the cars!) 

We have had our share of ups and downs.

Mostly, UPS :) 

We have spent hours and hours on the road.

We have probably eaten more pizza and watched more Redbox movies than we should.

I love Aaron more every day...

I could go on and on.. 

I'm very blessed.

He took me to Ruth's Chris for our anniversary dinner. 

We both had never been. It was delicious and we were STUFFED. Then they asked what we were celebrating and we said our first anniversary, they brought us dessert! The service was great! They even complemented our shoes haha! It was definitely a special occasion that I will never forget.

squished car pic

my chicken

Aaron's steak

our surprise dessert!

Happy 1 year!

gotta love a bow tie 

-Holly

Aaron's Birthday (5.17.12)

Aaron's 25th birthday was last Thursday. I had been asking him for weeks what he wanted to do to celebrate, or what gifts he wanted and he wouldn't give me any ideas. He just wanted to keep it "low-key".

MEN.

ugh.

I finally figured out where he wanted to eat, so I made a reservation for us at our current favorite restaurant in Rogers called Bonefish Grill. 

He didn't want any gifts, so we decided that his gift would be a much needed shopping trip to get some new clothes! I LOVE shopping, but Aaron hates it, so he usually encourages me to shop just for myself and not for him. 

BUT that is beside the point. 

First, I surprised Aaron by waking up early (that's love) and baking him his favorite, strawberry muffins. 

THEN, I surprised Aaron with a cake from Rick's Bakery. I led him on all week, making him think that I was going to just bake him a cake on his birthday since he just wanted it low-key. 

I went the week before and ordered the cake so that I would be able to pick it up during the day on the 17th. I even paid in cash so that he wouldn't see the charge on our online bank account. ;) Sneaky...

Needless to say, by the time he got home I was SO excited that I couldn't wait to show him until after dinner so I showed him right before we left for Rogers. 

He was SO surprised and SO thankful and SOO sweet. :)

I was one proud lil' wifey.


After Bonefish, we came back, had cake and watched a movie. He said it was his best birthday yet. :) Such a sweetie.

okay, I made some choc chip ones for me too...

"G'morning Sunshine"

Sneaky...

my guys

before his bday dinner

how cute is this?!

out on our deck

Happy Birthday Babe! 

-Holly