Spring

I've been loving this spring weather!  It was so warm for a little while that I was afraid it was going to get HOT quickly.  But its been so nice the last couple weeks.

I love Dogwoods.  I was so happy to see them bloom at our house at Mountain Home.  

And the Redbuds.  It takes things a little while longer to bloom in MH than in Little Rock so I was disappointed one week we were up there and saw nothing. I was so happy to see everything once it finally caught up!

I was NOT happy to see this.  Its the poison Ivy that got me last year.  I'm trying to figure out how to kill this stuff.  From what I'm reading, its not easy.  And its everywhere up there!

Brad and I played golf at Hindman Saturday and had the best time!

There are always a lot of geese on this course.  And this time we also saw a snake which Brad killed with a golf club (I didn't get a picture of that).

Charell and I played at War Memorial today.  Luckily, I had bought a couple jackets at Target before we went or we would have gotten cold and quit before we finished.  We did good though, we only picked our ball up and gave up on one hole.  We finished the round and were pleased with how we played. 

Oaklawn, Big Whiskey, and Cooper's Hawk

Last weekend started a very busy few days for us!  Tara and Sydney got to our house sometime after we went to bed Friday night and Tara and I got up Saturday morning to meet Terri, Taylor, and Jordan and David, Autumn, and Danika for breakfast at Cracker Barrel.  We left Syd with Brad while we were gone and evidently she goes berserk when Tara isn't around.  So that was a LONG couple of hours for Brad.  Normally, I would never entertain the idea of Sydney staying at our house but when we were at Tara's last month and I saw how old she looked and when I think about how much Tara and Lacy love her, I just had a momentary lapse in judgment  found a soft spot in my heart.  I was mostly worried about what Spatz would think of her but she didn't really mind her at all.  (Sidenote-Tara tried to make up for how Sydney acted by letting Spatz sleep with her one night when we were gone....she had Syd on one side and Spatz on the other.  Bless her heart.)

After breakfast, Rusty and Jennifer picked us up to go to the races in Hot Springs.  It was really crowded but lots of fun.  

And it was a beautiful day!

A couple of festive horses in their St. Patrick's Day green.

I usually win a few times when we go but I didn't win at all this time.  I think it was too crowded for me to concentrate on which horse to put my $2 on!

We had dinner back in Little Rock with Rusty and Jennifer and Tara, David, and Autumn.  After dinner Rusty and Jennifer went back to their hotel and the rest of us went to Big Whiskey and had a really good time.  It was so crowded downtown because of St. Patrick's Day but we found a table in the back and were able to hear each other.  I don't know David and Autumn all that well but they were hilarious!  They have a two-month old baby so I think they were just happy to be out and didn't care that it was with their sister/sister-in-law and her old friends!

Sunday morning I went to church and then hurried back home to get ready for Brad and me to go to Mountain Home for a few days.

On Monday, Tara and I played golf at Cooper's Hawk in Melbourne.  I have been looking forward to this for weeks!  It was SUPER windy but other than that the weather was perfect and by about 3:00 I think we were the only ones on the course!  We had the best time!  I played way better than I thought I would (since I always scramble with Brad) and we laughed so hard we almost cried a time or two. Or three.

I love this old barn!

Tara keeps score when she plays but I always trust Brad to keep score so I never really pay attention to how many times I hit the ball.  I'm not very competitive so I really just couldn't make myself keep score.  We ended up playing most of the holes by ourselves but a few we scrambled on.  And a few I just picked my ball up after maybe 2 shots.  I figure we were out there to have fun so why stress about the score.  Maybe I'll ask Brad to let me try to keep score the next time we play so I could start to get into the habit.  Since I wouldn't have to go so high on most holes (I say 'most' because I did get a legit bogey on one hole and we got two pars!).

I was so proud of these two shots!  My first shot is the one at the bottom of the picture.  It was with an 8 iron.  The shot on the right is with my 9 iron.  The tee box is right next to that little building and completely across water.  For me to get not one, but two tee shots on the green on this hole is awesome!  

Tara lining up her putt.  How's that working for you, Tara??  :)

We got par on this hole! Maybe lining up really worked!

This shot proved to be a little dangerous.  When I got up there to hit, I hit that tree dead in the middle and before I knew what had happened, it was whizzing past me at about a million miles an hour.  Tara was laughing so hard I thought she would lose her breath before I even realized what had happened!

We got another par on this one!  We used my tee shot but we clearly DIDN'T use my putt.  Seriously.  WHERE am I aimed??  I wish Tara would have politely mentioned that the hole is where that white flag is.

The restaurant was closed but luckily Tara knew a guy that worked there and he offered to make us a sandwich.  Which was way better than what we could have gotten from the restaurant!

We didn't get to play the back nine because they were aerating those greens so we had to play the front twice.  This barn is on the back and I've always liked how the cart path goes through it.

I wish Tara and I lived closer together so we cold play more often!  And I hope Brad and I can get back to Cooper's Hawk to play soon.  I had forgotten how much I liked it!  And its one of Brad's favorites too.

Golf Weather

I can't believe how great the weather has been the last couple weeks!  I'm pretty sure that I've never taken my first swing of the year in February before!  

We went to the driving range last weekend but my hands hurt from working in the yard earlier that day so I couldn't finish my bucket.  I'm sure Brad didn't mind since he got to finish it.

Thursday afternoon we walked eighteen at War Memorial.  We didn't start until after 2:00 so I didn't think we'd have time to finish but we did.  In fact, it was still bright and sunny when we finished!

On hole #2, I pulled my driver out only to discover that the shaft was broken!  We took our clubs to Destin and I think it must have broke while it was wedged in the trunk of my car.  Its not a huge deal for me to not have a driver anyway (for the first year or so I played, I used my hybrid on the tee and for about 90% of my fairway shots!).  I rarely used my old one because I was so inconsistent with it but I got a new one last year and like it a lot.  The golf store is sending it to Callaway to be re-shafted and luckily it shouldn't cost much.  We got the club on super sale so I didn't want to pay more to have it repaired than we paid for the whole club!

Hopefully, the weather will stay nice.  Tara is supposed to be here next week (I think) and she wants to play if we can.  Tara and me playing golf.....that should be fun.   Or funny.  :)

Golf

Yesterday, Brad and I went to Stonelinks near Scott to play golf.  Brad has played there many times, but yesterday was a first for me.  They tout that they are the only true links course in Arkansas.  There definitely weren't many trees....

It was so nice because we never had anyone behind us.  I hate feeling rushed!  Especially if I have my camera which I rarely take to the golf course. Can you imagine how annoying it would be to see some girl snapping pictures on the golf course when she should be hitting the ball??

The weather has been so mild lately, but wouldn't you know it, the day we want to play golf it's high 90's!  Oh well, it looks like it might rain the rest of the week so we might not have another chance to play.

It seemed like this course had a lot of sand because we found it more than once.  Or twice.  Sand is always better than water, though, and I only put one in water!  And we found several balls, so we made up for my lost one.  I remember before I played golf, I would ride with Brad in the cart and the highlight was finding balls.  It's actually still a highlight, but not as much as a birdie or a well hit ball!

I also remember the first time I lost a ball.  I was so excited because it meant the ball had went far enough to get out of our sight!  Now, it just makes me mad. 

We actually scored pretty well.  We always scramble because my play is unpredictable and would probably slow us down.  One of my goals is to play a round on my own.  Maybe after some more lessons.  


I didn't actually start playing golf until after we moved to Little Rock.  I had been to the driving range a few times in Batesville, but that was always more frustrating than fun.  Partly because I was trying to play with Brad's clubs.  When I finally decided I wanted to play, I got a cheap set of ladies clubs and a pair of golf shoes and have been hooked ever since.  I've since gotten a few better quality clubs (and about 5 more pairs of shoes!) but still use the irons from my first set.  I'll get some new ones when I prove I'm worth the price!