Way to Go!!!

I am so excited and proud to tell everyone that our little Missy has made the Dean's List for her very first quarter! She has been working so hard at school and is doing awesome (clearly by her wonderful grades!). Missy we are so proud of you! Keep up all the good work. It will really pay off in the end!

A quick reminder to everyone that our June ZPO is tomorrow night at Charings. I can't wait to see everyone there!

Also...hope you all are liking the changes I am making to the site! It is still a work in progress, but it is getting close to being done. I think it is really looking great with it's new face lift!

Splish, Splash, We're Havin' A Bash!

Come join your fellow ZPO sisters for a much needed day of relaxation and fun in the sun at Lake Cumberland! We are renting a Pontoon Boat for the day and are sure to have a fabulous time! Just imagine laying on the top deck of the pontoon with a drink in one hand and a hot dog in the other while laughing hysterically at each other! Not to mention utilizing the best aspect of the boat, its slide...That's right!!

Day: August 26th

Time: All Day!

Cost: $60 includes your portion of the boat rental and your portion of the food supplies (meat for the grill, chips & dips, plates, ketchup, drinks, etc).

Guests: Let's make this a bit more interesting and invite some guests! You may bring one person, be it friend, boyfriend, husband or some shabby chic stranger off the street! The choice is yours!

Food: Everyone can bring a side dish or two and our bellies should stay full for the day! We'll have some requested favorites, I'm sure, but we can work out the details as the time approaches.

We are really excited about the entire day and hope everyone can join in the fun! The price listed above is assuming all our sisters can attend, if not the price will change.

ps-If you didn't notice...ummm...how could you not...Liz made a new picture for the site and put all seven ZPO's in it! She really did a great job and I love it so much!

Good Bye Josh!

By Rhiannon

Well my little brother Josh is leaving tomorrow. Josh is leaving with his National guard unit to head to Mississippi for training for about 4 months and then he is off to Iraq. Josh has been in the National guard for a little over a year, he had basic training at Fort Benning Georgia and he also spent some time helping out in Louisianna after Hurricane Katrina...He is so dedicated.
On Friday night Josh had a good-bye party and Jennifer, Chris, and Candice came to help with the send off. Josh is one of the craziest/funniest people I know but he is also very sweet and loyal to everyone.

I am very proud of him and his service to our country. I know all the ZPO's wish him a safe tour and a quick return.

A Sister's Love

Small hands grip mine
Walking along,
Slowly, Slowly
Little feet can trip too easily
Questions asked with complete innocence

A few years later
Small bodies clamber into my lap
Bedtime cannot come without a good story
I watch until they are peacefully sleeping
Perfect innocence

More time passes
Angry voices, tears force us together
The little ones cling to me
The older one and I lean together
Who is comforting who?

They continue to grow
Life swirls around us in a flurry
New friends, school programs,
Soccer games, prom
First jobs, first cars

Through it all I keep watch over them


Time keeps moving
They are small no more
They are tall, strong,…Men
But not to me
Phone calls in the evening tell me my place
One needs a place to stay,
Another advice
The oldest-money
In these questions I feel their innocence
Faintly shining in the background


Laughter ensues as we gather at my home
Warm memories hang in the air
Above us, between us, surrounding us
Two leave
I glance at the one who remains
Sleeping curled up on the couch
19 years old
Sucking his thumb

Innocence remains.

Parting Way's

For a few years now a couple of the ZPO's have been cohabitating...but that is no more! Rhi and Candice have decided at the end of this lease to move apart. I know they have loved living together and will miss each other, but it was just time to part ways.

Rhi has moved in with her dad, which works out so great because now she is about three seconds from work! On top of that she will be able to save a ton of money so she can get a house in the next year!

Candice had a new two bedroom apartment that is going to be so great! It will be the first time she have ever lived alone, and she is pumped! It will be perfect for her while she finishes up her masters.

Girls, it seems so strange for you two to not be living together, but we are all so excited for you! We can't wait to see you new places!

Get Well Soon!

I am sad to report that our Papa (that is, the Papa of Boo, Me, Missy and Liz), is really sick. We found out that he has lung cancer, plus an antibiotic resistant strain of pneumonia. We don't know much about his lung cancer yet, but the pneumonia was really causing him problems. He just wasn't getting better so they brought him to the VA for some heavy duty medications. He seems to be getting stronger and sleeping better, so hopefully he will be home soon! Mom and Aunt Jan have been staying with Nana, which is so great. Now we just want our Papa to start feeling better and come back home!

The Kelsey Kid's!

Charing's house has been full lately! Scott's parents were in town last weekend for a visit, and then Charing's sister Dara, her husband Chad and their daughter Scarlet came in over this last week. It was so great for them to see the entire family and spend some much needed time together!

Boo and I took Wes over to hang out with Charing, Dara and the rest of the clan for dinner on Friday night and we had a blast! I wish Dara and her family were here longer so she could have gotten together with all of the ZPO's!

While they were here they took all of the grandkids and had their picture made. How sweet are these!

Here is little Carter (who is getting so big!!) with his big sister Morgan

And here is the entire family looking as cute as can be!

Breaking News!!

by Boo

Yes, that's right folks! You read it here first! Zeta Phi Omega has a documented mutant among us! You'd think she was pulled directly from the X-Men movie but no, she does not simply play a mutant on the big screen, is an actual mystery of science!

Who is it, you might be asking yourself?? None other than our little Sarah!

It's true!! Sarah has had a sore throat for a couple weeks now. She went to the doctor, had a strep test (which was negative) and got some antibiotics. The doctor said it would be strange for her to have strep throat since she had her tonsils removed many years ago but it was possible. When the test came back negative the doc blamed it on drainage and said she had severe pharengitius. Well, the weeks go by and her throat is still killing her so she took a look in the bathroom mirror and saw a suspicious looking bump in the back. She decided to return to the doctor, this time heading directly to an ear, nose and throat specialist, to figure out what the heck was going on!

After some adamant persuading, she got an appointment the very next day (not at the end of July like they originally told her). She was seeing the physician's assistant but whatever! As long as someone could check this out and get it cleared up she was happy. After talking to the assistant it became clear that she thought Sarah was crazy. She gave a lot of "uuuhuu"s and "sure, sweetie"s. But then Sarah opened her mouth to let this skeptical assistant take a look. After one peek at the strange growth she quickly exited the room to get the doctor! The doctor then took a look and pronounced Sarah a mutant. Why? Because...(wait for it)...Sarah is growing back her tonsils...that's right!!!

How crazy is that!? It's not normal, I'll tell you that much. And that's not all! Sarah's body just grows extra tissue For example, they found 12 inches of 'extra' tissue (never seen before by the doctors!) down her throat when they removed her tonsils last time, she grew an extra layer of gums (which had to be removed), and we all know she has endometriosis, which by definition is the growing of additional tissue all over her abdominal cavity! WOW!!!

It really sends bad feelings to all people who have gone through the excruciating pain involved in the tonsil removal process, thinking all the time that it was worth it because once healed you would be rid of their pain for ever! Well, not Sarah. She's going to have to get them removed again!! Poor thing!

So, ZPO has officially deemed her a mutant. We like it, love it in fact! It just makes her all the more special! We are throwing around several new names for her (because as you know, all mutants need a new name!) such as 'Sarah X' (nice one, Candice), 'Baby Wolverine', 'Baby X' and my personal favorite (thanks for the research Liz!) 'Marrow'. In case you're not up to speed on all your X-Men, Marrow is a mutant who can grow new bones out of her skin and her alias is Sarah. Coincidence? I think not! I even have a picture for you...

How does Sarah (or Marrow, as her friends call her) feel about her new mutant status? Well, here's a quote directly from her:

"This is so funny and so sad all at the same time...I am now officially a freak. I guess I never should have tried to fight it in the first place. How funny that Marrow's name is really Sarah and she grows extra body parts! WAIT...I just saw the pic of that girl and she is SCARY!!!!! Oh well...I guess I must accept what I really am...the first X-man."

The annual Yard Sale

Let's face it...Summer is expensive! So, maybe it is just life in general that is expensive, but in summer there is a solution...have a Yard Sale!!! Last year Boo and I decided to clean out a lot of our old junk (I mean A LOT) and have a yard sale just to get rid of it...well, after a two weekend, everyone collecting together as much crap as they can, huge money making event, we realized we might be on to something. Needless to say, we knew we were going to do it again this year!

This year the yard sale was even more of a multi-family event. We had stuff from all of the ZPO's except for Charing, who did a yard sale the weekend before with her mom, plus my parents, grandparents and my friend Laura. The amount of stuff was truly overwhelming. How did we have so much stuff when it seemed like we sold everything we didn't want last year?!?!

Boo and Missy worked especially hard to get a ton of stuff priced and some kind of organization to the madness. Boo made wonderful signs that we will be able to use lots of times! On Friday at six am (that's right!) I met Boo, Missy and Chris at their house to get signs out and everything set up. When we opened the door at 6:30 to start pulling things out...there were people waiting in their car's! They came running up to start looking. crazy.

I was off to work a little later in the morning, but Boo and Missy were there to work the sale. Cory brought Wes to Boo in the late morning, so he was great entertainment. Mom came by on Friday to help out after Missy had to go to work. Candice came by when she got out of class, and Liz and Cory came when they were off work. Thank goodness for Boo...she was there the entire time! That night Liz, Cory, Wes, Nick and I were all at Boo's for a half-way done cookout. It was really nice, but we were already so tired!

The next morning we were back up and at it by six. Liz and Wes came by with delicious breakfast around 10:30...God bless her! Mom and Dad dropped by to check on us, and Laura came with Rice Crispy treats. Candice was also back in there to help and helped us bring it all back in. It was so nice to have so many people help out when they could!

All in all the sale was a HUGE success! We made a lot of money for our trip to Vegas, or for whatever everyone else wants to use it for. The funny thing was...once we pulled it all back in the garage...it looked about the same. SOOOOOO...we are doing it again in a couple of weeks! Why not?? It is all priced and organized. Might as well make some more money!

Getting Pumped for Vegas!!

It is time to start planning our Bachelorette get away weekend in Vegas! Boo has done an amazing job putting together an agenda for the trip, and well ... with all this wonderful work it seems like something we should save on the site! Seriously ... she could do event planning for a living! We are staying at New York New York ... clearly a great choice!

About NY-NY: " When you see the hotel you cannot imagine how they transformed the New York Skyline into a hotel right on Las Vegas Blvd, they drove up the Brooklyn Bridge and right past the Statue of Liberty. The detail that was put into the design of this resort is fabulously Las Vegas. They did get one thing wrong though; the rooms are much larger than a New York City apartment! Apparently, out west people cannot understand city living. If you want to have a drink in Times Square, ride a roller coaster or have a large deli sandwich they have it at New York New York. The Village eateries have a ton of great food and allow you to stroll through the sidewalks of New York. If you want to have a loud evening of dancing and hollering walk over to Coyote Ugly where the girls dance on the tables and the place gets packed. "

Here is the agenda for the weekend. Of course it is VERY flexible since I had to estimate a lot of times. We might get up earlier or later than I predicted, site seeing could take more or less time, meal times might vary, etc. The Plan is subject to change but it is a basic idea of the weekend since everyone knows how we looooove a plan! If there is something you really want to do in Vegas ( place to go, eat or see) and it's not on the plan, please let me know and I’ll rearrange. If there is a "review" about somewhere we're going that means it was on the "Top Ten Things to do in Vegas" list!! Can not wait to be there!! Wooohooooo!!!

Agenda

Friday

• 5:00am: meet at the airport with luggage galore!
• 9:06am: (Vegas time) arrive at the Las Vegas Airport! Take a van taxi to our hotel (NY, NY), check in, drop stuff in our rooms, and change into pool gear.
• 10:30 - 12:00: Explore the hotel, gamble some, ride the roller coaster (for those brave enough!) Manhattan Express Rollercoaster " Of all the Las Vegas attractions this one will get you moving the fastest. Located in the New York/New York Resort this Roller coaster will take you to heights of 203 feet, drops of 144 feet and speeds up to 67 MPH, It features the world's first "heartline" twist and dive maneuver, allowing riders to experience the thrilling force of negative g's! The ultimate Las Vegas attraction. "
• 12:00-1:00: Casual lunch at Coney Island in NY-NY
• 1:00-3:00: Pool time!
• 3:00-6:00: Take a nap to get refreshed for the evening.
• 6:00-7:30: Shower and get ready for a night on the strip!
• 7:30-9:00: Dinner at Emeril's New Orleans House in MGM "This is the Las Vegas Restaurant that you are dreaming about. If you make it past the oyster bar, good luck. Emeril Lagasse has brought his neo Cajun style to the MGM Grand and it is intoxicating. I can live on the gumbo and peel and eat shrimp. Its addicting so be cautious of this place."
• 9:00-10:00: Gambling & drinks (You get free drinks if you are gambling so it's penny slots and free drinks to get the evening started!). Also check out the MGM Lion Habitat "It is not much, but, you can take pictures with baby lions at this attraction or just watch them walk around. I always seem to find myself standing there for twenty minutes watching a cat sleep. I don't know why, try it and explain it to me. This is the Las Vegas attraction where you can get a picture with a huge cat"
• 10:00-???: Clubbing!
  Starting at MGM where we can hit Studio 54, Tabu, & Teatro. Then moving on to Coyote Ugly in NY-NY or possibly to Mandalay Bay to hit Forty Deuce & House of Blues.

Saturday

• 10:00: (very flexible!!) Wake up, crawl to breakfast
• 11:30-3:30: Site seeing.
• Bellagio Fountains & Conservatory - A reviewer says, "I'll come clean, I can be a romantic guy at times and this place has a tendency to make me soft. The music gets going and the water dances back and forth. In the early evening the light show along with the fine mist that fills the air is magical. This is the romantic Las Vegas attraction". Shows every half hour
• Forum Shops in Caesar's Palace with lunch at Chinois - "If you can only go to one restaurant in Vegas, this is the one. It is far and away the best place for a meal. If you consider quality and price this is the place to eat. Honestly, I cannot live without Chinois. I don't know how. When I think of a Las Vegas Restaurant to send my friends to I almost always list Chinois."
• Mirage volcano
• Treasure Island pirate show, then drinks at Kahunaville in Treasure Island where we get 2-for-1 Margaritas
• 3:30-6:00: Catch monorail back for nap time
• 6:00-7:30: Shower & get ready for Round 2!
• 7:30-9:00: Dinner at the Eiffel Tower in Paris
  "This Las Vegas attraction gets you high in the air above Las Vegas. The replica Eiffel Tower at Paris Las Vegas is an exact reproduction of one of Europe's most famous landmarks, only at 1/2 scale. You can to ride to the top, and experience a panoramic view of the valley, from 460 feet above the ground. There is also the Eiffel Tower Restaurant, located on the 11th floor. Las Vegas attractions do not get better than this."
• 9:00-10:00: Gambling & Drinks
• 10:00-???: Clubbing!
  Start at Risque in Paris
  Moving on to ...? Possibilities include:
  Bellagio's Caramel & Light and Caesar's Palace's Pure
  

Sunday

• 10:00-12:00: Free time (that's right!) Possibilities include sleeping in, laying by the pool, gambling, shopping, eating, etc. I figure after 2 nights of parting people will need a flexible, relaxing morning to recuperate and not everyone recoups in the same way...hence the "free time".
• 12:00-4:00: Meet Aunt Carole & Aunt Cheryl in the lobby ready for a fabulous day! Head to the Venetian for lunch on the patio at Postrio, Gondola rides, and shopping at the Grand Canal Shoppes.

• 4:00-6:00: Mystere at Treasure Island
• A whimsical, surreal, production with astonishing circus arts, powerful acrobatics and breathtaking dance. "It's Cirque du Soleil and it never disappoints. Many will tell you that "O" is the best show on the strip and I am here to tell you they are wrong. Mystere is far and away the best way to spend your entertainment dollars. So much happens on stage and in the air and in your ears that you cannot possibly believe your eyes. But it's all real and very entertaining. If you see one show, you should see this one."
• 6:00-8:30: Rio Buffet A reviewer says, "I know, it's a buffet, but I have to be honest I love the place. It is out of this world, just imagine all you can eat lobster tails, crab legs, shrimp, salmon, Mahi-Mahi. You can never go wrong if you are a seafood lover. Never."
• 8:30-10:00: Gambling & Drinks
• 10:00-???: Clubbing
  Palm's Ghost Bar & Rain
  

Monday

• 7:30-9:30am: Wake up, clean up, check out of the hotel, head to the airport
• 7:48pm: Arrive home

Wesley Ray gets Baptised!

A couple of weeks ago Liz, Cory, Wes, Boo and I all piled into the Explorer and headed up to Wisconsin for little Wesley's baptism. Liz did a three part series on the trip, including all the pic's and what not which can all be seen on her site, linked to this site on the sidebar under "Baby Wes"(for some reason blogger's link button is not working, and I am tired of fooling with it!). She did a wonderful job, and it seems really repetitive to do the same posts again, but I did want to do a post about our sweet little boy and how far he has come since he joined us back in November!

You gave a real scare when you decided to come so early! Look at how tiny you were on the day you were born!!

You were so strong though! You amazed us all with how fast you grew.By Christmas you were nearly ready to come home from the hospital! We all finally got to hold you once you got home. You were so much bigger, but still so tiny!Soon you were a regular at ZPO events, and you and Carter became fast friends!

Charing nannied you for a month when your Mommy first went back to work, and now Boo has you for the summer. You love all your ZPO family!

You have such a sweet smile that warms my heart. I cannot imagine life without you now, even though you have only been here seven months.

And here is me and you at your Baptism...I don't think it is possible for a Godmother to love her Godson anymore that I love you my precious little Wes!

Happy Birthday Missy!!

Our dear sweet little Missy turned the big two-four yesterday!!! No matter how old she gets she is still the baby, so she always seem young to us!! The poor thing had to work all weekend, and didn't even get to go out and celebrate. We will all have to make it up to her and take her out really soon!! Missy, we love you and hope you had a great birthday and you get everything you wanted!!

Beach Bum!

I have just returned from vacation at myrtle beach where I had a great time but I missed all my fellow ZPO's terribly. So anyway here is a little taste of what I did on my vacation...It was a blast!
The house we rented actually has a pool so throughout the week we actually spent more time at the pool than the beach...y'know sand and all. I have a tendency to get up early so nearly every day was spent basking in the sun and watching the boys (my brothers) act silly. Justin built a weird contraption called the submersible which involved camouflaging himself with all the floats and the trying to torpedo us with the beach ball...However he could not aim well so then he built it on Josh. The unsuspecting tanner got a blast of cold water when they came near.
We did spend time at the beach, mostly walking/jogging to the pier and back but on the day we spent the whole time on the sand there were actually sharks in the water...I thought they were cool! They were little but Josh was afraid of them...That's right he carries a gun and defends our country but he is afraid of sharks...Go figure.
Night time was the most fun for me because we chilled and went out and did stuff...One night we had music night until around 2am..Music night involves dancing, debating lyrics, and me finding out that my dad wants to be a saxophone when he grows up...Not a saxaphone player a saxophone.
We also went to medieval times one night and watched the knight competition.I have been before when I was in high school but Josh really wanted to go...He loves knights. It was awesome...Our knight clearly should have won but he got stabbed in the stomach and lost after a valiant effort and winning all of the other competitions also he was pretty cute. Josh wanted to joust but he was not allowed...If he had a cape I am sure they would have let him. That night was the most fun!!

Sadly my vacation had to end and I had to return home to Kentucky...However I brought my beautiful tan with me so its not all bad. Here is a random sampling of my trip Woo Hoo!