I'm baaaack!

It's been a while since my last blog, so I decided that I would update everyone (all 7 of my followers....lol!!) on what's been going on.

This summer has been busy to say the least! As soon as school was out, I had two days of traveling to Camden for workshops. The next weekend, I went to Little Rock for the AEA (Arkansas Education Association) Leadership Conference. I am going to be Vice-President of the Strong-Huttig Education Association this next year so it was very beneficial for me to go. That following Monday, the NV3 (that's the nickname I have given our family since we all have the initials NV) headed to Fayetteville. Nick had a coaches conference to attend and Neela and I went to catch up with family & friends who live in NWA as well as some mother/daughter shopping! Wednesday morning, we loaded up and came back to El Dorado only to unpack, do laundry, and pack again for our beach trip.

Neela & I with the cousins!

On Saturday, June 26th, we made the 9 hour trip to Gulf Shores, AL to cash in on our Christmas present from Becky & Bruce which was a week in a beach house! I absolutely loved this trip. Not only were we at the beach but Neela is old enough to play in the sand and water and she loved every minute of it! We got back from our trip yesterday, July 2nd, and still haven't completely unpacked. We are all 3 trying to regain our energy from the wonderful but exhausting vacation. I have included some pics. If you want to see more, there are plenty on my facebook page!!

Ready for the beach!

Total Diva! loving the beach!

family pic!

playing in the water with my girl

The Bruce Holsted Clan

Neela loves her Daddy

What do I have in store for the rest of the summer? Well, I will tell you. Tuesday, July 5th, I travel to Lake DeGray Resort to spend two nights while Neela stays home with Daddy. No, I am not going on a "Mommy Vaca", I have been asked to be a part of the Strong School District's leadership team and we are having our meeting at the resort. I will return from there on Thursday and then Neela and I will head to White Hall to spend the night with my parents on Friday. Nick has a 7-on-7 tournament in Springdale and so Neela & I are jumping on the chance to spend time with Maw-Maw & Pops! Next week, I will travel to Camden 3 days for literacy workshops and then on July 22, I will hop on a plane to Guatemala!! Nick will be on contract with football by this time so Neela will be spending most of the week I am gone with her Maw-Maw & Pops.

I am very excited about going on a mission trip to Guatemala with some of my church family. We will be working in a medical clinic in the mornings and then doing a VBS type camp in the afternoons. We will have one fun day in Antigua before we return home but I am very excited about doing missions. This is my first time on an airplane as well as leaving the country. I know what you are thinking, "Are you crazy?" and my answer to you is "obviously!" I made a promise to myself that I would not let my anxiety and panic attacks keep me from doing God's work and no matter how hard Satan is trying to talk me out of this trip, I am going! When I get back from the trip, I will have a few days to recoup and then professional development starts for me on August 3rd!

So there you go. That is what I have been up to and will be up to until August 15th when school starts. It has been an extremely busy but absolutely wonderful summer for me. I have gotten to spend a lot of time with Nick & Neela and have enjoyed watching Neela experience new things. I am going to do my best to blog while I am on my trip to Guatemala but not sure when I will have time to actually blog again before I leave. So until then, I hope everyone is having a great summer and I my next correspondence will be from Central America!!

Natalie