Miss Arkansas 2012

Last week I traveled down to central Arkansas to hang out with my family and help them during the moving/new house ready-ing process. 

But, one of my main reasons of visiting was to attend the annual Miss Arkansas pageant with my mom.  My mom, Mrs. Sherri Phelps, her daughter Blair, and I have made it an annual get-together. I think this is our 5th year to attend together. It is so much fun and I have had friends in the pageant every year. PLUS, the OBU girls always make me proud! 

My mom and Mrs. Sherri have been life-long friends. They were young married-couple friends in college and they have stayed close friends throughout the years. My dad and Mr. Billy are basically "brothers from another mother" as it goes. They are two peas in a pod, cut from the same cloth....the jokes go on and on! When I first visited OBU (my senior. yr of high school) for an event for incoming students, my parents arranged me to stay with Blair (who was a freshman) and ever since we have become great friends. She and her husband Eric are some of our favorite couple friends and Blair is one of my best friends. 

I had two pledge sisters in the pageant and both did a great job and made Top Ten! There were 8 OBU girls in the pageant and SEVEN of them were EEE's! Blair and I were such proud OBU/EEE alumni! 

Night 1.

me & Blair

Night 2

(after) Night 3. 

Clark had his finger over the flash.

Night 4.

I have such a cute mom :)

Blair & I.

mom & Mrs. Sherri

I had such a great week with my family and seeing my friends! The new Miss AR 2012 is Sloane Roberts. She has been in the pageant before and was also Miss Teen AR one year. She is adorable and will do a great job. My friend/pledge sister Bethany got in the top ten and was 2nd runner-up. My other pledge sister Abby made top ten as well. All of the OBU girls won different awards! I was proud to know them! 

The other purpose of my trip was to help my family move and ready their new house in Conway. We moved boxes, furniture, appliances and were road warriors all week. My grandparents helped us take some things over on Friday while my mom got up at 4:30am and drove to get Joshua at camp in MO. She got home at 4pm and still got all cute for the pageant. What a trooper. But, back to my grandparents...We loaded up the trailer with a bunch of different pieces, random pieces LIKE A SKEET SHOOTER (lawd) while their truck bed held the refrigerator, washer, and dryer. 

I FELT SO REDNECK!

Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, stared at us barreling down the highway at 7 in the morning. :/ 

Talk about being mortified. 

Here's some proof:

YES. This happened. 

I love my family despite the fact that I wanted to wear a paper bag over my head during that seemingly LONG drive to Conway from Bryant. I am thankful that they will show up at the door at 6am willing and wanting to help my parents move.

They sure do keep my life entertaining. 

:)

-HOLLY

Playing Catch-Up

OH.MY.WORD.

I reeeeallly need to post more. I feel like we have been going and going lately and so when I have time to relax, I don't want to do ANYTHING, including post about my life on le blog. 

Let's play some catch-up, shall we?

Aaron got us tickets to Lady Antebellum in LR for a "belated" anniversary present. SO SWEET. It was so much fun even though we were in "The Pit" and had to stand the whole time. It was a great night!

Thompson Square

Darius Rucker

Lady A

hot & sweaty but we had a blast!

some great friends/old college roomies.

love these girls!

It was a great concert! We had a blast despite having to deal with all the redneck drunks making fools of themselves (which is as to be expected at a country concert)! 

Also, I ended up staying a few extra days in Bryant/Conway helping my mom paint and take stuff over to the new house. I will post pictures of that later because I really want to post pictures after they "officially" move in.

I am so excited for my family. They finally found a house in Conway and I believe that when it is finished (painted/decorated/etc) that they will LOVE it. I am pretty sure they have already gotten their money's worth out of the pool. Hopefully one day when Aaron and I get a house, we will be able to afford a pool because: 1) Aaron is a huge kid at heart and loves the water and 2) Marley LOVES pools now. ;) Whoopsies.

We also spent 4th of July with my family in Conway at the new house. Although it was just a day trip, it was so fun. I didn't take my camera, but I got some cool shots of the boys doing "tricks" on the trampoline, diving board, and off the trampoline into the pool. It was nerve-wracking but they were being safe and having a blast. 

One last thing, Aaron's grandfather had a minor heart attack last weekend.  He went in to the hospital for some testing and they found 4 blockages. He will have to have bypass surgery in about a month. If anyone is reading this, please pray for his family and especially that his grandfather (we call him "Poppa") will get lots of rest and be strong enough to go through with the surgery. 

Hopefully I will have more exciting news in the near future....

like about a potential move. 

BUT

we will just have to wait and see.

:)

lovelovelove,

Holly

Weekend Recap

Another busy weekend is in the books here at the Nicholson home.

We left for Bryant on Friday after Aaron got off work. We got there, visited with the family, watched the crazy man tightrope over Niagra Falls, and then everyone went to bed. 


We live exciting lives. 


My parents took my youngest brother Clark to K-7, a division of Kanakuk Kamps on Saturday morning. It's in Lampe, MO and the trip there is an all-day affair.

Joshua, Logan, Aaron and I went to Little Rock for lunch and ate at the Flying Fish. After lunch we roamed around the River Market.  It was good to spend time with my brothers and especially Logan because he's home from college for the summer. :)

@ Flying Fish in Little Rock, AR

One of my old best friends from growing up was getting married in Searcy later that day, and seeing how my parents were going to be gone, Aaron and I were going to have to go to the wedding on behalf of the family. The bride and I were best friends from 3 years old until about the 10th grade. I got busy with swimming and had Aaron to spend my time with. She focused on cheerleading and the "popular" clique. We kind of "broke up" as best friends. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong doing your own thing.

I am SO glad high school is over.

Anyways. So this girl and I haven't talked in a few years, but since she came to my wedding, it was the least I could do to come to hers. Aaron put it really well when he said, "Part of you just needs closure on your whole high school (crummy friend) experience, and I think this wedding will do just that." He was so right. I didn't have close girl friends in high school.  Well, okay, I DID, but they didn't go to my high school. They lived in different cities and states. I didn't really have a "clique" that I was a part of in high school. But it was a good sense of closure because I'm married now and have a life of my own, and she's doing the same. We are happy for each other and that is that.

Anyways, back to the wedding...

 It was kind of like seeing a lot of "exes" at the wedding. People I used to be friends with, that had all gone our separate ways, some had moved on, some were still doing the "Searcy thing", and it was just a little awkward. But we got to visit with a lot of old family friends and church friends and it's crazy to see how much has changed since we (my family) moved from Searcy after my senior year. 

Oh..and Joshua came with us and ALMOST had a meltdown during the ceremony. 

BUT that's a whole other story...

All in all, it was a beautiful wedding and I am happy for the newlywed couple, even though they are Ole Miss fans (boo! hiss!). I won't probably ever have to attend another Searcy wedding for a looong time. At least not for people my age. That chapter of life is over and I am grateful for it. 

You live and you learn...

and then you meet some true, life-long friends in college. ;)

Here are some pre-wedding photos:

Sunday was Father's Day and although we didn't get a family picture, we spent quality time with my dad. Aaron's family was in Alabama, so we didn't get to see his dad for Father's day.  We went to church with my family, then lunch in Hot Springs with my dad's parents/my grandparents. Later that afternoon, Aaron and I loaded back up in the car and started the trek back to Fayetteville. 

I have a love/hate relationship with car trips. I hate sitting for that long but I love one-on-one time spent with Aaron. We just talk and enjoy each other's company. 

Also...Friday I fell into lust with these babies:

I didn't buy them then, but if they still have them today, they are mine. 

Aaron even approved. ;)

I hope everyone has a happy Monday!

-HOLLY

Tis' The Day To Get My Hair Done

"Tis' the day to get my hair done,

fa, la, la, la, laa

la, la, la

LAAA!"

Ya'll. I am SO excited. I love getting my hair done. Bless my poor head. I was born with thick hair and I hardly ever fix it to give it any justice. My mom says that I should be thankful to have so much hair. I am thankful though...I just prefer a pony to half an hour of straightening this mane of mine.

This is me today...

HA.

I kid, I kid.

This is a before shot. 

Yes I had my hair in a pony previously as you will see by the crease. 

Yes I am over-due on a highlight.

Thank you Captain Obvious.

THIS is me today...

Hmm...I think that cat and I have the same facial expression going on....

Anyways.

I am wanting to grow my hair out long(er) again. Like it was the time before last when I   decided to chop off 4+ inches. (dumb, I know)... Is it bad that I haven't been to a salon since before spring break? YEESH.

So this salon visit will consist of a trim and a partial highlight.

It is summer after all ;)

Added little perk: Tonight is date night. :D "Woooo!"

If I remember I'll try to post an "After" shot of the mane!

Have a lovely day,

HOLLY