• Childbirth - This has recently become a passion of mine. After Geren was born I knew that I wanted to help other women the way my childbirth teacher and others had helped me. Most women never realize the options they have during pregnancy and birth and are not given the information they need to make good decisions related to that time. I want to help other women realize that it is their responsibility to research their choices in childbirth, to know what the doctor or midwife is doing and why, and to understand they have the right to refuse any test or procedure that they wish. I want to help them gather the facts regarding their choices and help them come to decisions that are best for them.  I am presently studying with CAPPA to become a childbirth educator, and one day I hope to become a doula as well. I am also helping to start up a new group in our area called the Homebirth Association of North Dallas (H.A.N.D.), with the hope of spreading the word about the safety and benefits of homebirth and providing support to those who choose to birth at home.

• Labrador Retrievers and dog training - I have three wonderful Labs that were my "kids" prior to having children. The oldest is a black Lab named Alexis; she was a wedding present from my sister-in-law and she made me fall in love with Labradors. She's a big couch potato and loves to give kisses, much to the chagrin of most of my family. Then came Chase, my first yellow lab. She is Alexis's half sister. We've done a lot together. I started her in obedience classes as a puppy and got hooked; we've been to numerous obedience competitions together and she has her Companion Dog (CD) and Companion Dog Excellent (CDX) titles, as well as a Junior Hunter (JH), Working Certificate (WC), and Working Certificate Intermediate (WCI) titles in the hunting realm. We were working on her Utility Dog (UD) training when I got pregnant with Geren and things got put on hold. I love training her and I wish I had the time to continue it and a place to do it (we lived on land in College Station through most of her training). The youngest is also a yellow, and her name is Trudy. She's Chase's daughter and I had really high hopes for her. My dream was (and still is) to one day have a dog that was a conformation champion who also had a Master Hunter (MH) and UD title. Trudy is a lovely dog with a fabulous personality and she would have loved showing. But as it turns out she has hip dysplasia (despite screening of her parents) so she got taken out of the running. She does have her WC though. All three dogs have passed AKC's Canine Good Citizen test. I love them dearly and hope to be more involved in the dog training world again one day.

  

  Trudy, Alexis, and Chase

• Scrapbooking - I love scrapbooking, and I wish I had more time to do it. I have boxes of pictures from high school, college, and our early years of marriage and no good organization for them. But with the boys I was determined to do better. I got a late start on Geren's book so it is taking some time to catch up, but I am so pleased with the result. I have a great collection of not only pictures, but memories through the journaling I've done. Geren loves to look at it and I hope it will be a treasure for him one day. I've got to get started on Joshua's book! If you haven't tried it, you should.

   

• Gardening - I'm not very good at it, but I like to do it! I've got a nice herb garden outside our kitchen window and I love to cook with fresh herbs. This year is my first attempt at vegetable gardening; I've got green beans, carrots, lettuce, and spinach growing right now. Read just dug up a head of garlic the other day - our first "harvest"! My maternal grandfather was an avid gardener (miss you Papa) and my Dad has the garden bug as well, so I guess I come by it honestly. I'd really like to get good at this one day (and have the land to do it) so that I can grow most of our own produce.

My herb garden