Blessings!

Craft Craze Day ~ September!

2011-09-22T16:17:00.023-05:00

This time we did a ribbon wreath. Turned out really cute, but must say I will most likely only make and own ONE of these wreaths. Talk about a whippin'!!! There was a lot of prep work involved. Savita gave us all of our ribbon, I think close to 10 rolls and we had to cut them all into 4 1/2 inch strips and then glue the ends together. Thankfully at work on Sunday when Savita gave me my ribbon we were slow. We had a really good-calm afternoon. So my friend Deb helped me cut all of this ribbon into strips. (Our craft group was on Tuesday of this week.) Then Monday night my sweet sweet SWEET husband helped me glue all of the ribbon together. I swear I've never met another man as sweet as my husband. He'd do anything in the WORLD for me. I honestly, truthfully, do not deserve this man. But thank God he's mine!!! (okay, should have given a "Cheese Warning.") As we were gluing, he informed me that he must REALLY love me if he was helping me do this. He had the unfortunate task of folding over the ends and burning his fingertips off. I told him several times that he didn't have to help me, but he insisted saying, "Sweetie, you'll never get through tonight if I don't help you!!!" When we were done I texted my friend Lydia telling her that I never ever in a million years want to do a craft project that involved this much hot glue!!!! Not long after that my phone rang with her expressing the same thing. It was awful. I told her that this was definitely not a "couple's building" activity. While Morgan and I were doing all of the gluing, some curse words might have been involved as well as my man telling me several times to calm down because I was getting frustrated! :-/ But we did finish by 1030 that night, thank goodness.

The next morning was craft day. YAY!!! We met at 0930 because we knew we'd need a lot of time for this project. Nina had just returned from Italy and brought us all back one of these olive oil corks that you see above. Thought that was really sweet. We were all so excited to have something from Italy!!!

We had yummy food. In the bottom right you will see a delicious dip that involves pumpkin and graham crackers. Which reminds me, must get recipe from Stephanie!

After breakfast it was time for crafting and silliness. :-)

Some of Charlie's Angels joined our group that day for some crafting! ;)

Lots of ribbon. Lots and Lots and Lots of Ribbon. This solid black we used to wrap around our wreath first.

More colorful ribbon!

Lydia organizing all her ribbon into separate piles to make it easier to know how many you have of what ribbon. I, fortunately, had done this the night before when Morgan and I were gluing them together. I put them in sandwich bags as we went. The other girls did not. :(

This picture makes me laugh. Wine and a glue gun probably don't mix. Might have had a little less burned fingertips if we kept it sober. But then how fun would that be??? (Disclaimer: No people, we did not get drunk!!!!! We were all completely sober by the time we left at 3PM.)

Pretty picture of Savita!

I'm sure Nina was laughing at Lydia...see picture below!

Lydia burning her fingertips off!!!

Ummmm, yeah! No clue!

I would love to say this was our finished product, but no one was able to finish in 5 hours. It's very time consuming gluing all of those ribbons on the wreaths. But it is VERY cute once it's done!!!!

Our attempt at a group picture. Not sure how many we took to get this one picture of all of us. There was a really cute one, but unfortunately Nina was cut out of it. So this was the best!

When I got home that night I finished mine. YAY!!!

Back to School Party~Mommy Style!

2011-08-23T20:19:00.009-05:00

A couple of craft groups ago, we decided to get together for the first day back to school. Three of the girls had kindergartners...all being their last to enter school. We met at Savita's at 0930 for breakfast, drinking, and swimming. I can't tell you how relaxing this was for all of us!!!!! I had to post two group pics to show all of us since our photographer, Kyle, had more important things to do-like starting Kindergarten. ;)

Our yummy food! These girls sure know how to cook!

Tea and Sangria!

Pina Coladas and Mojitos!

Ahhhh, don't our beverages just look soooooooooo delicious??? I think so!

Our variety of sunscreen...from 6-70! I won't say who's is who's!

And this is what we mostly did!!! Once again, so thankful for this fun group of girls and soooo thankful they included me, even though I am not yet a mommy!

Craft Craze Day!

2011-08-20T21:04:00.008-05:00

I hate to be a bummer, but I worked yesterday, today, and tomorrow so this will be basically pictures! We made these cute little candy jars...I guess you call it a jar??? Anyway, I think it would be cute to paint one bright red or green and fill it with Skittles! I left mine pretty simple and versatile for many holidays/seasons since I was only going to make one. The other girls did more to theirs like adding Halloween ribbon and colored glitter on top which is really cute. Anyway, so here's our pics. Sorry I don't have many words to explain it all, but at least you get pics, right?? ;) Pictures done by Stephanie!

Moving to Texas!

2011-08-04T21:02:00.000-05:00

(I received this in an email today, so true!!!)

Dear Diary,

Just moved to Texas ! Now this is a state that knows how to live!! Beautiful sunny days and warm balmy evenings. It is beautiful. I've finally found my home. I love it here.

June 14th:

Really heating up. Got to 100 today. Not a problem. Live in an air-conditioned home, drive an air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to see the sun everyday like this. I'm turning into a sun worshipper.

June 30th:

Had the backyard landscaped with western plants today. Lots of cactus and rocks. What a breeze to maintain. No more mowing the lawn for me. Another scorcher today, but I love it here.

July 10th:

The temperature hasn't been below 100 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat? At least, it's kind of windy though. But getting used to the heat is taking longer than I expected.

July 15th:

Fell asleep by the community pool. Got 3rd degree burns over 60% of my body. Missed 3 days of work. What a dumb thing to do. I learned my lesson though. Got to respect the ol' sun in a climate like this.

July 20th:

I missed Lomita (my cat) sneaking into the car when I left this morning. By the time I got to the hot car at noon, Lomita had died and swollen up to the size of a shopping bag, then popped like a water balloon. The car now smells like Kibbles and Shits. I learned my lesson though. No more pets in this heat. Good ol' Mr. Sun strikes again.

July 25th:

The wind sucks. It feels like a giant freaking blow dryer!! And it's hot as hell. The home air-conditioner is on the fritz and the AC repairman charged $200 just to drive by and tell me he needed to order parts.

July 30th:

Been sleeping outside on the patio for 3 nights now, $225,000 house and I can't even go inside. Lomita is the lucky one. Why did I ever come here?

Aug. 4th:

Its 115 degrees. Finally got the air-conditioner fixed today. It cost $500 and gets the temperature down to 85. I hate this stupid state.

Aug. 8th:

If another wiseass cracks, 'Hot enough for you today?' I'm going to strangle him. Damn heat. By the time I get to work, the radiator is boiling over, my clothes are soaking wet, and I smell like baked cat!!

Aug. 9th:

Tried to run some errands after work. Wore shorts, and when I sat on the seats in the car, I thought my ass was on fire. My skin melted to the seat. I lost 2 layers of flesh and all the hair on the back of my legs and ass . . .

Now my car smells like burnt hair, fried ass, and baked cat.

Aug 10th:

The weather report might as well be a damn recording. Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. It's been too hot to do shit for 2 damn months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week. Doesn't it ever rain in this damn state? Water rationing will be next, so my $1700 worth of cactus will just dry up and blow over. Even the cactus can't live in this damn heat.

Aug. 14th:

Welcome to HELL! Temperature got to 115 today. Cacti are dead. Forgot to crack the window and blew the damn windshield out of the car. The Installer came to fix it and guess what he asked me??? "Hot enough for you today?"

My sister had to spend $1,500 to bail me out of jail. Freaking Texas . What kind of a sick demented idiot would want to live here?? Will write later to let you know how the trial goes.

Nannie's 85!!!

2011-08-04T11:41:00.006-05:00

If you are judging from the picture above and the picture below, you would think that either Nannie is an alcoholic, or it was my goal to get this lovely lady intoxicated yesterday. Well I'm here to tell you that neither is true. ;) Yesterday was Nannie's 85 Birthday...woohoo!!! Her daughter and daughter in law both decided to leave her for her Birthday (a little guilt trip thrown in there, hehe!) and so I got the privilege to take her out to lunch...and dinner. She wanted to go to the Olive Garden for lunch, a lady after my own heart. Morgan isn't the biggest fan of Italian food and I love Italian food so this tends to be a little problem in our household. Anyway, we split the Peach Bellini. I mean, it's lunch time. Who drinks at lunch time??? Oh wait, we do! And oh what a delicious drink that was. Perfect for this summertime heat of 113-I'm putting 113 because that's what my SUV said out here yesterday. I had so much fun with her. This lady is game for anything and has a heart of gold. I really gained a precious grandmother when I married Morgan!!! On the way home I asked her what she was doing that night and she said that her and Aunt Toots (that's her sister, but we all call her Aunt Toots) wanted Robert (my father in law) to take them out to dinner, but he was too busy. In his defense, they are. I hardly ever see my husband. They are so busy bailing hay for their cattle and those in other parts of Texas that have it worse off than we do (imagine that being possible) and are buying hay from us. Oh, and someone might have accidentally caused a massive fire out here last night, that I'm sure the story will be hilarious a few years from now, but not at the moment. No, wasn't Robert or Morgan, but someone close to us. Accidents happen, and then sometimes BIG-HUGE accidents happen. :-/ Okay, back on track now...I said I would love to take them out to dinner to celebrate Nannie's Birthday. So they took me up on it and Robert sent me away with money in hand to pay for dinner. Now that's my kind of dinner. :-) I really enjoyed escorting these lovely ladies around and spending the evening with them. Aunt Toots is almost like my own grandmother, too! Love her!! It felt like I was out to dinner with my two grandmothers. :)

Co-Workers

2011-08-03T10:08:00.004-05:00

When I say this, I can say it with 100% assurance...I HAVE THE BEST CO-WORKERS EVER! Seriously, I do!!! I know I have bragged on here before about them, but it's true! I don't lie. It says a lot about a hospital when you have practically zero turn over on our unit. It's not only a great place to work, but a great place to deliver your baby...won't venture down that path today though. Such a FUN group of girls and everyone is always so supportive of everyone else. Great Team Work! If there's a death or someone is going through a hard time, everyone rallies around them. It really feels like a second family and oh how I feel so blessed to be part of this group of ladies!! Even when I have babies, I'm still going to work. (well, I'll be honest...for financial reasons), but I would never want to give up this support system and all of the good times that comes with it. Not that I'm choosing them over my children, but I honestly believe I need adult interaction a few times a week to keep me sane...nothing against stay at home moms. I think that's great too, just not for me.

Okay, enough gushing. Recently we changed our discharge process where we aren't doing everything on the DAY of discharge, therefor decreasing parents anxiety and the overwhelming feeling this can be going home...with a new baby...that you are now responsible for FOREVER. They can also just walk out on their own, not be escorted by us. WOW! Best change ever! Saves us time from having to wheel them down, plus the patients love it because when they are ready they can just go. They don't have to wait on us to wheel them down. More Freedom!! And trust me, they all want to go AT.THE.SAME.TIME. Plus, we are going to be having a discharge brunch for them to go to before they go home where they can meet other moms, know they aren't alone, have any last minute questions answered, etc. It's a great change.

Well yesterday they were making a video of our discharge process before and after this change. This is a picture of some of the nurses in the video...

like Christine said (she's the mom in the bed) she should be having a hysterectomy, not a baby. Then Jackie is on the couch being the baby daddy. Then there's gorgeous Savita as the post partum nurse. We laughed so much!!! So basically we are promoting older women to have babies, interracial marriages, and lesbian relationships. Honestly, I don't judge any of what I just said because we take care of all of that. To each their own. This picture just makes me laugh! Have a good day everyone!!!

Sunglasses...

2011-07-31T12:59:00.002-05:00

I took this picture and sent it to my husband because I have an issue...my ears aren't set right! I put on my sunglasses and laughed because they are so crooked!! I have the HARDEST time finding sunglasses to fit me right!! It's annoying. I'll love a pair, but can't buy them because they are so crooked. I'll even adjust the nose pieces, etc. Nope, crooked! Does anyone else have this issue?? Oh, and hats...forget about them! My head is too big. People like to be kind and just say it's because I have a lot of hair, which I do, but I just physically have a big head, too! Oh how I would love to be the type of girl who could just throw on a hat and go. Nope, not happening here! :(

What??? What???

2011-07-25T09:42:00.003-05:00

Something is wrong with the universe. Thanks to my sweet cousin Brooke, shown below with her adorable little Rhyder, who must have more patience than I could ever imagine...

This person-whom I never thought would land on Facebook- now has a Facebook account...

This would be my mother in law, Sandra. She cracks me up! I'm actually really excited for her! Now she will be more in the loop and can keep up with her niece and her children who live in Guatamala. I just love my MIL and wish everyone had a MIL like mine! Has always welcomed me with open arms from the first day I met her and is always the life of the party. A woman who can tell the BEST stories EVER!!! Watch out world, SANDRA has entered the Facebook world!!!!! :-) Let the Facebook party begin!

New Car...SUV!

2011-07-24T17:17:00.003-05:00

Someone in this household might have gotten a new SUV recently. I won't say names, but it's a "she" and her initials are LPA. Okay, it's MEEEEE!!! I'm in LOOOVE! Didn't know that was possible with a car. I know, I hear all of you now. Laura, didn't you just get a new car recently? A Honda or something? Yes, I did. But within two years it already has 70,000 miles on it and plus the Airhart men in my life have never been that thrilled with me back in a car. When I test drove this SUV and stopped by the barn where my FIL was, he begged me to buy this and to get out of my Honda for safety reasons. They don't care that these SUVs drink gas and you can practically see the gas gauge moving down as you drive. They care about my safety! Then my aunt throws out, "It will hold twins great!" Anyway, I had a friend at work telling me how GMC was having great deals right now due to many people not being able to qualify for new vehicles and more people are buying used. So if you do manage to qualify for a new, you can get a great deal. Thankfully, I have amazing parents who instilled in me the importance of sustaining good credit that I qualified for 0% interest. Anyway, so this is my new ride...a GMC Yukon. They are basically like a Tahoe other than they cost a little more and are supposed to retain their resale value better. :) This car has all the bells and whistles I could ever want. It feels like a luxury vehicle to me. It has On Star and XM radio. The thing I love the most is that my iPhone is hooked up through the SUV so when anyone calls, the radio goes off and I hear a ringing sound with a little voice telling me I have an incoming call. I'm sure a lot of your vehicles do that, but this is the first for me. So cool!! I can even get a number for the actual vehicle if I were to ever be where my cell phone couldn't get reception, through On Star my vehicle phone still would receive reception. How cool is that? But no, I didn't pay the $4 extra a month for that because it's not realistic that I'll be in the mountains anytime soon. I had to shake hands with my husband and promise that I will actually pay off this vehicle. :-/ I promised him I would! There's no reason I would ever want to trade it in. It has absolutely everything I'd ever want or need.

Back Pain

2011-07-24T11:07:00.003-05:00

Well it's official...my back is completely jacked up! I've always had chronic lower back pain, but after picking up Lillie several times on Wednesday I really aggravated it. I went to work on Thursday and dealt with the pain, but it was too much to repeat work again on Friday and so I didn't go. Saturday my back still hurt and was even worse. I was taking Anaprox and Tylenol around the clock and laid in bed all day. Morgan came home from work and we went to get something to eat and I could hardly sit up for a quick car ride without my back killing me. We came home and I just couldn't get comfortable. I then had to cough and that shot my pain up to a 20/10 pain scale! I decided that since I have already met my deductible this year, a trip to the ER might be in order. I first texted my friend who's an ER nurse to see if there was anything they could really do and made sure I wouldn't look like a drug seeker coming in for back pain. She assured me I wouldn't because those folks make an appearance every week. So off to ER we went. I couldn't even make it to my ER, so we went to the closest one and thankfully they weren't crowded. After a a shot of Dilaudid and Phenergan (Dilaudid is the strongest narcotic you can get for those of you who don't know) I was feeling a little better. My blood pressure and pulse were both really high which proved I wasn't making it up! They then did an x-ray and found that I have narrowing of L5-S1 and need an MRI and possibly surgery. The ER doctor reassured me that they now have less invasive techniques for back surgery so that made me feel a little better. The thought of anyone messing with my back terrifies me! Anyway, so that was my night last night. I don't wish this back pain on anyone! I'd rather have any other body part hurt-other than my head-than my back!

Craft Day~July

2011-07-20T20:19:00.006-05:00

No, you're eye sight is not messed up. I really do look a hot damn mess in the above picture. I guess I had a momentary lapse in memory forgetting that there are always photo-ops at these little Craft Days of ours. Since I knew we were going to be swimming after crafting, I really didn't see the need to do my hair and make-up to just have it ruined shortly later. So I basically rolled out of bed and went to craft group. Big mistake! HUGE! Why? Because these lovely pics get posted onto Facebook for the world to see. UGHHHHH!!!!!!!!! Now to recover from the hot mess above, I will show you some beautiful friends of mine...

Moving on...we always start off our crafting with a nice little alcoholic beverage. That day it was...

Skinny Girl Margaritas. These are really good and not as high in calories as a regular margarita. Highly recommend them. Then we progress to...

FOOD! We always have delicious food. Those chocolate cookies you see have Rolos in the middle and are absolutely divine. I won't share with you how many I ate :-/ leaving no room for chips & queso and chicken enchiladas. This week we decorated tiles. Stone tiles and regular tiles. I loved this project! It's such a good gift idea and so easy to make. People can use these as coasters or decor. So first you pick your stones...

Then you pick your paper you want to use, grab some Mod Podge and your good to go...

You just cut your paper to fit how you would like, Mod Podge before then put your paper on. Then apply 4-5 coats. When you're done with the Mod Podge you spray them and you're done. So Easy!!

Birthday!

2011-07-17T17:05:00.003-05:00

(My Aunt Becky, My Mother in Law, and My Mom)

Better late than never, right?? Okay, so I just have to say that having a July 4th Birthday is the absolute best!!! I get fireworks for my Birthday, everyone is already in a happy-celebrating mood, it falls in the summertime so I never had to go to school on my Birthday, every 6 months I get presents...although now that I am older I honestly don't care about that anymore and don't get me started about the ridiculousness Christmas gifts has become. Anyway, back to my birthday...I just LOVE being a little firecracker baby! :-)

This year, my parents came up again the day before my birthday and we celebrated with my in laws. It's really just a great reason for my parents to come up and get to see everyone and to enjoy some delicious cake. They all bring me gifts, even though I really wish they wouldn't. All of us getting together is enough for me! Although, yes, I do expect a gift from the hubs and this year he came through again for me...with assistance from Lydia, although it was completely all his idea. Good Job, Morgan!! Once again you confirm that you are the BEST husband! I was still tired from our travels back home from Destin and not getting home until 0230, but I was glad to see everyone and spend time with them.

The next day was my birthday and since my man HATES spending time in a dark movie theater during the day and protests because he believes that this time could be better spent doing other things-and yes he probably has a point-I made him go to the movies with me because it was MY birthday. :) We went and had lunch at Saltgrass and then went to see The Hangover. It was okay, not as good as the first in my opinion, although Morgan thought it was just as good. The night before we had bought fireworks. Living out here in the country we pass a couple fireworks stands to and from every where we go so it's nearly impossible to not stop and buy some. We invited Morgan's parents, Aunt, and Nannie to go with us to fire them off. We had fun! Next year I hope to celebrate my birthday with my parents ON.MY.ACTUAL.BIRTHDAY. and they can come up and participate in the fireworks with us and we will buy TONS more next year.

So anyway, you can see why being a firecracker baby is such a blessing! Couldn't imagine celebrating my birthday on any other day!!!

Destin, Florida 2011

2011-07-05T16:54:00.009-05:00

This year for vacation we went with one of my best friend's and her group to Destin, Florida for a week. If you've never been, you need to go!! Gorgeous water and sand! On the way there it took us 12 hours to get there. We left at 1am and got there at 1pm. Now this is the way to do it. Why??? Because everyone sleeps for a big chunk of it, therefor not consuming liquid requiring frequent bathroom stops. On the way home we left at 1030am and did not get back to Rob & Lydia's house until 1:30am. That would be an additional 3 hours folks!!! I will say, it did not feel this long...either way. Car trips with friends is DEFINITELY the way to go! Time just went so much faster! When we got to Destin we immediately changed into our swimsuits and were in the ocean until the sun went down. The 5 following days were just the same!! How is possible for days to go SO FAST when on vacation, but be stuck at work for 12 hours and it just drags on and on and on... Anyway, if my math if correct, there were 11 adults and 6 kids in our group. One night we played charades. Man do I wish I had taken a picture because some people were hilarious. Also, why did I have to draw all of the hard ones to act out like "It's a Wonderful Life" while many others got Tiger, Elephant, throwing a ball, etc. It was ridiculous! Especially since I have zero acting ability! One night we took pictures out on the beach and then went to a place called Baytowne Wharf. If you ever go to Destin, this is a MUST! Neatest place! The best way to describe it is like stepping onto a movie set where there are many restaurants, ice cream parlors, an outdoor movie theater, zip lining, and tons of games for kids. It was SO fun!!! Didn't feel real. Anyway, sadly these were the only pictures taken of our trip...that night.

Morgan & I on the Beach!

Lydia & I on the Beach.

Lydia, Ethan, & Britni on the Beach. (Rob is missing.)

Us at Baytowne Wharf!

So pretty much our daily routine was to get up (around 1030 for Brit & myself :-/), eat breakfast, head down to the Beach for a couple hours, come back up for lunch, head back down for more Beach, and then hit the pool. Repeat the next 4 days. They brought "Washers" to play and some other rope game that was pretty fun! We also had the coolest thing on the Beach! Yes, I can say this because several people came up to us and told us this. It's called the "Caribbean Island." It's a big blue raft that holds approximately 10 people. We'd throw it out there in the ocean and then it would slowly push us all back to shore. I wouldn't be surprised if we all land on Funniest Home Videos one day. That thing was crazy dangerous up close to shore. The waves would get dangerous and slam us into the shore line, thus making us fly everywhere...including on each other and over each other! Lydia called it quits when her husband accidentally head butted her in the face. Yes, she has a bruise to prove it. It took me seeing Britni's boyfriend's mom, LaRae, go flying over my head after I had a good grip on her arm to make me end the fun! It was intense, but so much fun!!! I'm really surprised someone didn't walk away with a serious injury after all the bodies flying into each other. One night we all walked the beach together looking for Crabs. That was a lot of fun. We stumbled upon a Bar & Restaurant. Too bad there was also the most drunk man I have ever seen in my life there as well. He had to be in his late 50's jumping on the tables (yes, I am serious), trying to do flips with his friends, and then when our drinks were delivered to our table he came running across all the table tops like he was a monkey to see what we had. INSANE!!! Thankfully, we got our drinks and left. All the kids did really good with the crab hunting. One night Morgan and I went walking by ourselves and we saw the BIGGEST crab I have ever seen!!!!!! It was MASSIVE!!! Of course I didn't have my camera and we were to far from our condo to let Morgan take it back with us. It was a monster. On the way home we decided to stop in Louisiana for dinner. They all love crawfish, it's too hot for me, so Rob had seen online of a good place to eat. We couldn't find it. We stopped and asked a man at a gas station where it was and he told us, but he also suggested an even better place. So we went with his suggestion. We pulled up and it was very questionable if it was safe to stay. It was a semi outdoor restaurant...well, it was outdoors for the most part. It was kind of like a "hole in the wall" type of place, except there were no walls. The waitresses were smoking, sketchy people walking by. Anyway, we stayed and it turned out to be REALLY good! They also have live music which was nice, too! We would've stayed a lot longer if it wasn't so late already.

Britni with her little fellow before she ate him.

I don't know how they all eat these, but they do and they seem to enjoy them. Five adults ate 20 pounds of these guys!! Anyway, so that was our trip to Destin. I know I am leaving out so much fun stuff that happened, but my fingers are hurting. All I can say is that it is well worth the drive to Destin! Beats Texas Beaches hands down any day!!!!

Craft Day!

2011-06-10T20:32:00.005-05:00

Ahhhh, today was SO fun, but I am one exhausted human being!!! Today was Craft Craze Day...and swimming. Savita just had this awesome-gorgeous new pool put in so the other girls brought their kiddos and when we were done, in the pool we went. Well...let's say I went in first...for a LONG time with the kids. Nina wasn't there today and so someone had to take her place of completing the task super fast and apparently that person was ME!! As soon as I was done with my wreath Savita's older daughter, Avery, said, "SHE'S DONE!! YESSSSS!" and immediately gathered up the other kids and in their swimsuits they went. So I entertained the kids for a while in the pool. It was lots of fun! Ethan, Lydia's son, knows me really well so we played. But the fun part was Stephanie's "darlings" as she -and we- call them. They are always SO shy when they come up to work to visit her on the weekends. I mean, barely look at you. They will say, "Hi" but that's about it. They are absolutely adorable. They are twins, a boy and a girl, and just too precious for words. Well I got in the pool with them and they just played and played with me...and talked to me!! It was so fun! Then FINALLY my friends joined me and Lydia even went off the diving board, much to our surprise! ;) After the crafting and swimming, Lydia and I went to play Raquet Ball. We are heading to Destin in a couple of weeks so we are trying to be good about this. She won, of course! Like she says, "We don't get a trophy or anything," when one of us goes way out of our way to get a ball...and misses! It's really quite funny and we laugh more than anything!! Now I'm home...showered...and about to go to sleep. Yes, I do believe I will sleep great after this fun filled Summer Day!!! Just wish 0450 wouldn't come SOOOOO early!!!!!!

4th of July Wreath

2011-05-31T20:03:00.002-05:00

Fun in the Sun!!

2011-05-31T11:10:00.004-05:00

This weekend ended up with me getting lots of pool side fun and sun! Sunday we went over to my brother in law's house where they have a pool. We grilled out and had fun swimming. You might remember me posting pics last year of my husband sliding down a slide, etc. We had lots of fun, especially the boys...Morgan, Matt (Morgan's brother), and Davin (our nephew). It got to the point where we had to tell them that if they couldn't play nice, well then one of them would have to get out of the pool. It's so interesting to me how you can throw 3 boys, yes boys, into a pool and it turns into them trying to pull each other's pants off, ganging up on each other, tearing goggles off each other's face, holding the blow tube while the other is trying to swim and breathe under water, etc. But if you threw 3 ladies, yes ladies, in a pool, you would see NONE of that. You would probably see us gathered in a little circle chatting. None of that other non sense going on! It's truly amazing to me that we can co-exist with these animals in this world!! ;) They also decided that they would practice fishing in the pool. Like my friend said, "You might be a Redneck if..."

I also got to go see some people I haven't seen in FOREVER!!! My longest friend-Holli-I have known for 29 years. Her parents and my parents were super close when we were growing up so her parents are like my second set of parents. I feel so comfortable around them. Even though I hadn't been down to their house in over 3 years, there was that instant comfort level there when I walked in...like I am walking into my own parents home. They live in Granbury and really have an amazing home and "set up" out there. It's like a mini resort...seriously!!! Pool, pool cabana with a swinging bed, etc. I love it out there! So relaxing!!! Holli's little girl, Tatum...

is my little buddy! Love her to pieces!! I swear Holli must always talk to her about me, or something, because every time she sees me it's like she just saw me yesterday. Instantly running up to me giving me a hug. I love it! She stuck by my side ALL DAY yesterday!!! I was her little playmate in the pool for probably at least 4 hours and she was my little "5 yo workout!!" I loved every second of it though, all though my arms are a little sore today. It was fun!! The sweetest moment to me was when we were about to pray before we ate dinner and she ran around the little island and grabbed my hand. Ahhh, just melted my heart! My second favorite moment of the day involves Wyatt. Wyatt is Holli's little boy who will be 2 yo in July. He's got the same blond hair as Tatum and is just so stinkin' cute!! Well, basically he wants nothing to do with me so I just don't even try to play with him. He will look at me from across the table and smile, but that's about it. He did come and sit by me on the floor, but I didn't dare try and love on him. Well right when I was about to leave Tatum gave me a big hug bye and then all of the sudden Wyatt ran around to me and said, "Bye!" Which surprised us all! I asked him if I could give him a hug and he ran up to me and let me hug him. Ahhhh, these really are the sweetest kids! Holli said I better take that hug because it rarely happens. I felt so special. :) I was sad that Morgan had to work and couldn't go with me. I really want him to get to know these people because they are just good-solid-fun-Christian people! We are planning on going out on the 4th of July and I can hardly wait!!

Roses!

2011-05-19T20:53:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, my sweet husband brought me roses just because he loves me! This was after I made him turn around when he was almost home from work and drive back to Target to get Lillie dog food because I didn't realize we were completely out...and then he brings me roses. We've had some ups and downs lately (like every couple) and it's actually made us stronger and made me realize how much I love him! I hate those poeple who pretend like everything is "happy happy joy joy" when in reality it's not. No one's life is like that all the time!! They weren't lying when they said marriage is "work." Just thankful to have a partner who's equally willing to work on it like me. :)

Miss Landry!

2011-05-18T17:21:00.003-05:00

Seriously, does it get much cuter than this?? She has the most kissable-lovable head and don't forget about those scrumptious cheeks! Her cuteness is almost too much! Then add in her sweet little demeanor and the way she wakes up smiling...OH MY!! I couldn't stop kissing that little semi-bald head of hers. Cutest thing ever!! I got to hold her and play with her a lot so I was happy! She even let her mama (Jill) go to the bathroom. I just sat her on the table in front of me and talked to her and made faces at her. She smiled...A LOT!! So Dear Lord, when you bless me with my baby (twins I'm sure of it) will you please send me two just like her?? Thanks in advance! ;-) Down below is Jill feeding her. This baby barely fusses, even when she's starving. Then she was just a talking away after she ate and when we were about to leave. She just makes me smile!!

Nice Surprise!

2011-05-14T20:16:00.002-05:00

Today was one big nice surprise, for the most part. Today I got off work early. Might I add it's a gorgeous Saturday to get off work early?? We had tons of discharges which left us with only three patients. So we transferred them to the other unit and close our side. :) This made me happy because I wanted to go to my mother in law's jewelry party she was having this afternoon. I swear, I can have a multitude of days off and not one thing planned. No invites to anywhere. But schedule myself to work an entire weekend and BAM, get invited to three different things. Really sucks at times! Anyway, I got to go over to my mother in law's where I ran into one of my favorite cousins, Brooke. Didn't know she was going to be there.

How cute is she?? Oh I just loooove that belly of hers. I couldn't stop touching it. Plus, Rhyder was moving around so I got to feel him. So neat!! I'm so excited that she lives only a few miles from me now so I hope I will get to see more of her and that sweet baby boy.

After the jewelery party, Morgan was off work and I have been wanting to go to In-N-Out Burgers up here. Don't ask me why. I have no idea why. I've had them in California and I don't remember them being that special. Kincaid's and Mooyah are both so much better! It will probably be a really long time before we go back, but it was still fun to go.

This was after an hour of waiting in line. It took us a total of one and a half hours to get through this line and receive our cheeseburgers & fries. We realized we could have driven to Fort Worth in this time and had a decent burger. Oh well! It was kind of fun and exciting to see ALL of the people there. Of course they had police directing traffic. Of course we saw a few people try to cut in line, but they were kindly told to GET OUT and GET AT THE END OF THE LINE!!! I'm sure the police officer didn't say it like that, but I would've. ;) I took pictures, but my phone is as slow as molasses tonight so I couldn't upload them. I will say this, you can't beat the price!

Anyway, so what I thought was going to be a day stuck at work for twelve hours...actually turned into me getting to see Brooke & hang out with my husband. Nice Surprise!

CCD-Wine Glasses!

2011-05-11T17:55:00.001-05:00

(Ughhhhh! This picture is pure motivation to lose weight!!! Why is it I can look "okay" in one picture and "not okay" in the next?? Happiness has made me fat...well I'm going to look at this picture every time I don't want to go to the gym for pure motivation! Plus, I'm standing next to the skinniest person there. I need to remember not to do that again!!!)

Today was a little stressful for us all at Craft Craze Day! All though we still had fun. Three of the five of us are big wine drinkers. Savita and I like wine, but don't drink it quite so often as the other girls. No, the other girls are not lushes or anything, just saying they know more about wine than the two of us. Anyway, it turned out to be a little more difficult than we thought it would be. Savita had bought stencils for us to use...and we failed miserably at using them. Want to know what we ultimately used to design our wine glasses besides a paint brush? Savita's children's pencil erasers. I knew I wanted to design mine with flowers all along so I made little flowers. The other girls were smart and quick to catch on as to how easy and cute my glass was, so they also made flowers. Even though we all used the same idea, they all look so different and so adorable! I just love our wine glasses!! Nina...as always...whipped out 3 wine glasses before most of us were starting our second one. I mean, I don't know how the girl does it! It's truly amazing. One second I look over and her glass is empty, the next it's got a gorgeous design on it! Truly impressive!

Another perk to CCD...besides the pure enjoyment & laughter that comes with being around these 4 girls, is the drinks and food!! These girls can cook! Lydia brought an alcoholic beverage called "Pink Bikinis" that had us all dreaming of laying on a beach. BUT, Savita's gorgeous pool should be done this weekend so we all see many of summer days with us lounging around her pool with a Pink Bikini in our hand! :-) The kind you drink, of course!! Not the kind you wear! Savita had fruit with a really good fruit dip. Nina had brought a dip and wanted to use us as "Ginny pigs." Thank goodness she did because it was so delicious!! Couldn't really tell you what was in it right now, but it was amazing! I brought stuff to make these sandwiches my mom makes called Brittany Sandwiches. You take a croissant, a medium cut piece of ham, a tablespoon of applesauce, and Swiss cheese. Put them together and then bake for 15 minutes!! So easy and very yummy!!

Anyway, even though it was stressful, it was also lots of fun!! We poke fun at each other and laugh a lot! I've been meaning to write a disclaimer for my previous post about the no kid thing. I just want y'all to know that I am really okay! I went to lunch with one of my best friend's, Stacey, a couple of days ago and I told her that if our biggest concern is having kids, then we are doing good! I feel like I have a full life just as it is and a child would just be an added bonus. I see so many people that have their families (husband & kids), but yet have no life. They have no friends. They go no where. They do nothing. That is not the life for me at all! I absolutely love my freedom and friends! I love how I can just go to the movies whenever I want with whomever I want. I can have my girlfriend lunches all the time. Workout with my best friend. Morgan and I can have a date night every night if we wanted to. My life is really great!!! So please don't feel bad for me at all!! I'm just so thankful to have some really great friends in my life that let me love on their children like they are my own! God has blessed me in soooo many other ways!!

Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T20:14:00.003-05:00

Happy Mother's Day! Today was a great day! Above is me with my little bundle of Joy, aka Lillie Bear! I was kind of nervous of today. I've been a big ball of tears the past two days...for several reasons that I won't get into. There are days that I want kids so bad my heart hurts, my arms ache to hold the babies that I believe are yet to come. Then there are days where I am so thankful to only have to care for myself. It's really an emotional roller coaster and I am so thankful to have friends that don't say, "YOU will get through this," but they say, "WE will get through this!!" I seriously have the BEST friends I could ever ask for. One of my friends told me the other day that she can't wait for the day where she and I can hold my babies and we can cry together just thinking of everything I've gone through to get those babies. Just typing that made me tear up. I can just imagine that day and what a great day that will be!! Sometimes I hope it's sooner than later, but ultimately I'm just waiting on God's timing!! The Boss is in charge, thankfully!!
But today I got to hang out with my parents. Had some good Taco Soup, delicious cornbread, and one of my favorite cakes for dessert. We then watched the Mavericks vs Lakers Basketball game. 4-0...we will take it!! The unspeakable-disgusting behavior from the Lakers...not so much! Craziness! I mean, grown men acting like fools. Glad the Mavericks didn't stoop to their level. My mom is a Maverick fanatic!! So it was fun to watch the game with her. I'm so happy that I still have her to celebrate on Mother's Day. I have several friends who have lost their moms, including my mom who lost hers a year before I was born, and I can't imagine how difficult this day would be for me if she wasn't here. She's my ultimate best friend and I am so blessed to call her, "Mom!"

Three Years!

2011-05-05T13:23:00.006-05:00

How has it already been 3 years since I married this cutie pie??? I still remember that day so clear! Best day of my life!! We still have people tell us how fun our wedding was...STILL! I have to admit...and brag...it was a blast!! I mean, when you're partying so much and you basically only remember to cut the wedding cake because your father reminds you as you're passing him in a Congo line...that's a party! :-)

This year we really didn't have any plans to celebrate our anniversary like we have the past two years. Mainly because his work got in the way. I had a friend at work tell me about the Hilton on Lake Ray Hubbard. About how it had little shops and restaurants within walking distance, has a light house, and just how "cool" it was. Boy was she right...especially about the COOL part. It was more like freezing to me. IN MAY! CRAZY!!! The picture above was taken outside at the Hilton down by the lake when it was 48 degrees. It was a really nice hotel and nice area in general. It's in Rockwall right off I30. I'd recommend it to anyone for a little one night getaway...just go when it's warmer so you can thoroughly enjoy yourselves! They also have a really nice pool, but no way were we getting in it!

The next morning we got up, ate a really nice breakfast and then headed to the Dallas Arboretum. I've been wanting to go for EVER and since my aunt has a free year pass, we got to go for free. :) I have to admit, the day before when it was dreary and raining ALL.DAY. I might have had a little break down. I was really sad. But, Morgan assured me that the weather was supposed to be really nice the next day and it really didn't matter as long as we were spending time together. Boy was he right! The weather was GORGEOUS! Couldn't have asked for nicer weather. Made for a perfect day at the Arboretum. After that, we drove downtown and had lunch at Old Spaghetti Warehouse. My favorite restaurant as a child. Then we went to the Dallas Aquarium because he had never been. I had been once, but they redid it and it was so nice! That boy has some EYES! He always tells me this, but he seriously does. He can spot things so fast! You know those little windows with small little reptiles they want you to find but they are hiding...well he finds them in 2 seconds! It's a really neat place to go, especially if you have kids.

After that, Morgan wanted to go to the Dallas Zoo, but I wasn't up for it. Mainly because I've been and it isn't that nice. Especially when I am used to the Fort Worth Zoo. So we came home and I took a nap. We were going to ask one of my best friends and her husband if they wanted to go to dinner, but for some reason we thought Grandy's was a better choice. LOL! Mainly because I was too tired to get back out and drive to town.

So that's how we celebrated our 3 year mark! Wow! Time is just a flying by!!! Can't believe it's already been 3 years...before I know it we will be at the 30 mark! It's true, the older you get the faster time flies by! Slowwwwww Downnnnnn!!!

Lillie Bear

2011-04-18T20:02:00.003-05:00

It was 11:00 pm when this picture was taken last night. Normally she would be out cold, snoring. This puppy dog is a new dog! This puppy dog has lost 6 pounds which has transformed her life!! She can now jump on the couch by herself. She lost the ability to do so when she gained weight. The vet switched her medicines for her skin, which decreased her appetite, which has now given her a new found energy. She is almost like she was when she was a puppy. Except this time when I say, "No!" She stops, she doesn't challenge me like she did when she was in her "teenage" years. She also goes for walks now, against her will. She hates the leash...probably because the only time she goes on the leash is when she goes to the vet. I think now she's starting to get that the leash doesn't always equal a trip to Hell. Tonight when I asked her if she wanted to go for a walk she flew off the couch and when she saw me with the leash in my hands, she was jumping up at me to put it on her. The reality of it all, is that she knows she gets a pupperoni when we are finished. I love seeing her like this. She just seems like she feels so much better!! So I guess you can say all those vet bills to find out what was wrong with her were really worth it after all. :)

Independent

2011-04-18T14:32:00.004-05:00

I like to think I am pretty independent. I wouldn't trade those years for anything that I had alone, paying my own bills, running my own little life, knowing that I am the only one responsible for everything that happened. I've heard people say that girls should never go from living at home with their parents to marriage and I couldn't agree more!!! I feel like every girl should experience life on her own for a little while. I'm not saying don't have a boyfriend, but I mean where you provide for yourself. That way once you get married and if something were to ever happen to your husband, you know how to support yourself. So now that I've done it, I know I can do it in the future if need be. Well, apparently I am too independent. Last week I was driving to workout with a friend and while I was driving down our country road, my car just died. The air conditioner and the radio still worked, but the car itself didn't. OF COURSE it happened on the worst part of that road!!! The MOST dangerous-winding part, but thankfully my car made it to the one and only pull off...if you want to call it that. I'm pretty sure if I left it on the road I would've been hit from behind. After I got off the road, I pulled out the book that comes with the car that informs me of what the indicator lights mean. There were two, the engine and tire pressure. Well that's just great, it could be a number of things with the engine. This car isn't even 2 years old, but does have 60,000 miles on it. So, with a little help of 1411 (thank God for that!) I called the Honda dealer and spoke with someone. They said it could be a number of things wrong. They then gave me a number to call for towing. I called them and they were there in 20 minutes. So in less than 30 minutes I had it all handled. Pat on the back, yay me!! Yeah, not so much. We went to dinner the next night with one of my best friend's and her husband and apparently I really hurt Morgan's pride and should have called him FIRST!! I called him after I called for the towing. He showed up right after the tow guy did. I was informed that I was to call him first...always! He said it was probably just the battery and could have fixed it himself. So we follow my car to the dealer and they say the same thing...it's probably the battery. If so, then the towing is covered under warranty, as well as the battery, and I won't have to pay a dime. YAY! The entire time I kept saying it wasn't the battery. I just knew it wasn't the battery! Yep, wasn't the battery. Turns out it was a $900 part...but thankfully is one of the rare parts covered under warranty. They said they would have to order the part and get it in the next day...meaning they will have to keep my car overnight. I asked for a loaner car since not having a car is kind of an issue and if the part is under warranty, they should cover that. He said that since it takes less than 4 hours to fix my car, that a loaner probably wasn't going to happen. I then informed him that since he was going to have to keep my car at the dealer overnight due to it not starting, I think that's a little longer than 4 hours. He then agreed and got me a loaner. :) But is that not common sense to y'all like it was to me??? Anyway, turns out they had my car for 4 days! What they thought was the issue wasn't, it was something else. But since they said they were going to cover the cost from the get go, as well as the towing, they ate the cost!! I'm one lucky girl!! So with all of that said, back to being too independent for my husband's liking. If I would have called him first, he would have come and towed me back to the house, changed the battery, the fuel pump, and it still wouldn't have worked. Would have wasted LOTS of time AND money. Then would have had it finally towed to the dealer. I told my husband that he should be happy that he has an independent wife that doesn't need him for every.little.single.thing. I didn't want to call him and bother him at work, so I just handled it myself...WRONG! So from now on, I think I'll just blow up his phone. ;)

New & Improved

2011-04-07T21:11:00.002-05:00

Today Stephanie posted a picture of her completed wreath. She wanted to add more ribbon so it took her a little longer. It's so cute! She had tons more ribbon than the rest of us. I was lucky to get off work early, thank goodness because I worked yesterday...got 3 hours of sleep...and went back today...LONG STORY! Anyway, so I cruised on over to Hobby Lobby and bought me some more ribbon. Here's the BEFORE... And the AFTER...

What a difference, huh? I love it even more now!!

Breezy Saturday!

2011-03-30T20:45:00.005-05:00

This past weekend I thought I was supposed to work. Turns out I got on call on Saturday and I was never scheduled to work on Sunday. I had looked at my schedule wrong. What a nice surprise that was!! Morgan was pretty busy all weekend with plowing the fields. My sister in law, Melissa, knew this and so invited me down to go fishing with her and my nephew. It was such a gorgeous, breezy, relaxing Saturday. This is the pond/tank/lake whatever you would like to call it behind Nannie's house. Even Nannie came out and sat with us to enjoy the gorgeous weather. Matt caught a pretty decent size fish. They caught quite a few, but a turtle bit a hole in the cage and so some fish got away...NO BUENO! Yes, I am extremely blessed to have this as my view anytime I want it to be. After fishing, my father in law invited me to go round up the cows with him. While doing so, I was reflecting back on the first time I did this with Morgan and him...I was so scared! Basically I just hung back on my horse and let them do all the work. I was too scared to get close to the cows. Not this time, I was up there pushing the cows like I knew what I was doing, haha!

My father in law and I riding out to the cows.

I just love this little cow. This is Morgan and a gentleman that always clips with him. I was ready to go home by the time they got to this cow, the last cow for them to clip. Told Morgan I was leaving, but he asked me to stay. Said I'd like the next cow they had to clip. Well sure enough, I did!! I remember this cow when it was a baby and how it had a Heart on it's head. How rare is that?!? I want to keep him since he kind of goes with our last name and all. :-)

Easter Wreath

2011-03-30T20:04:00.011-05:00

Today was Craft Craze Day!! :-) Oh yes, oh how we all look forward to this day and are all super sad that our next one isn't until May 11th...BOO!!! Today we made Easter Wreaths and I think they all turned out really cute!! Savita added a little bonus and got us all the initial of our last name which was a nice surprise!

I'd never say any of us were alcoholics, but we all sure do love a good alcoholic beverage. Today the choice of drink was wine. One of the other girl's brought this wine and it was good. It was a red wine. I brought my favorite wine, which was a little sweet for a few of the other girls. Oh well, more for ME!! :)

Then we had some yummy food...notice the order...wine-then food. We are girls that have our priorities straight. Anyway, Savita made some excellent tasting Chicken Salad. I need to get the recipe from her. She said it was easy, so let's hope her definition of "easy" and my definition of "easy" are the same, because I would love to make it sometime.

I accidentally uploaded my pics out of order, but this is Nina's initial. We painted them blue, added pink and white polka dots and then glitter. I love the swirliness (pretty sure I just made up that word) of all of our letters.

We also attached glittery Easter eggs to our wreaths!

Our wreaths and letters before we started.

Savita, Lydia, and I hard at work!!

I loooove this picture!! I think it's so cute!! Stephanie and Savita standing up on the bench to get a better look at Stephanie's wreath. Savita was being helpful on deciding on what else her wreath needed. By the way, our group picture was taken before Stephanie's wreath was finished. Nina had to get home to her new puppy dog so we took a picture before she was finished.

I just love this picture, too! All these pictures were taken by Stephanie...except for the one she's in and the group picture...which was taken by Kyle, Savita's son...who is so stinkin' cute!!

Whalah...my Easter Wreath! I just LOOOVE it! I'm thinking about in a couple weeks getting together my mom, mother in law, Nannie, aunt Becky, and my sister in law to make them. They are so easy and I think we would have a blast!!

STARS!!!

2011-03-14T18:08:00.005-05:00

Recently this crew above went to the Stars game. Even with a reverse camera-where I can see myself taking the picture-I still can't get a good picture. Honestly, I blame my husband. He hates pictures and was hesitant about scooting over to get in it. Where as my brother in law has no issues with pictures. Why can't MY husband be more like his BROTHER in this aspect??? Really frustrating at times. A.N.Y.W.A.Y. we had fun. Melissa, my brother in law's wife, is a teacher and her entire class won tickets because they raised the most money for a fundraiser...I think. But she and my nephew were in Houston for the stock show so Matt took us. I love the city! Love, Love, Love it! We went early so we could eat dinner. Since one of my best friend's used to live down there in a condo right next to the American Airlines Center I remembered that at the bottom of her building was a Mexican Restaurant, Luna De Noche. It was enjoyable, waiter spilt Matt's water all over the table. HaHa!

After dinner we had time to kill so we went to this little bar outside the AA Center. It was such a nice, cool evening that night. Wonder what they are looking at?? No clue! The boys were so excited to see where they tape the morning news. You could see in the windows and there were 2 news ladies sitting at the desk. Well as we walked closer we saw that we could actually go in, open tour at that time. :-) You could take pictures with them if you wanted. I was trying to get my boys to go sit in the 2 chairs that they sit in during interviews on the morning show, but they wouldn't. You could see where they did the weather with the green screen. Kinda cool.

We had decent seats. Really wherever you sit is good in there. They were introducing the players in this picture. This will sound weird, but Matt and I both made the comment how everything seemed so CLEAR in there. It was weird.

This had to be the Stars #1 fan!! Never seen a fan so enthusiastic, it was great!! The only bad thing was that when the stars scored their second goal, he was busy getting cotton candy for his little girl so he missed it. It was funny because all of us sitting up around him pointed to where he should be sitting saying how he missed it.

It was a fun night! I always love our "Matt" time. He's fun to be around. The best part is that he gets Morgan...he's the only other person that sees through the comments that Morgan makes. The comical comments that Morgan makes. The embellished comments that Morgan makes for the fun of it. While everyone else believes him, Matt and I know better and so we get a good laugh at him together. I know that sounds mean, but it isn't. It's really quite funny!

Layla Update

2011-03-07T20:34:00.003-06:00

Two blog posts in one night...watch out! I'm gettin' a little crazzzzy! ;)

Remember how back during the ice I posted about Layla being brought in to the back room/laundry room and how Morgan thought she'd just hate it and cry all night? Well guess who EXPECTS-DEMANDS to come in EVERY.SINGLE.NIGHT.SINCE??? That's right, our sweet Layla Bayla. Even on gorgeous nights, sometimes gorgeous days, she wants in. I refuse to let her in during the day even though she trys to dart in while the door is slightly ajar. Sometimes I even have to pick her up and set her back outside. This is her new favorite spot, unfortunately. I mean, how am I supposed to wash all the towels under neath her that are making her bed? I just don't have the heart to do it right now. Anyway, just want y'all to know that I was right and Morgan was wrong. LOL!! Love you, honey!!

Horse, Cows, & Tractor

2011-03-07T20:07:00.003-06:00

This has quickly become one of my favorite views. I've become much more comfortable on a horse. So much so that Morgan is teaching me how to run on Albert. Albert is probably the worse horse to ever have to learn to do this because he's a sloooooow poooooke!! Well, that is, unless you're heading back to the barn. Funny how his "grandpa" walk turns into an actual normal horse strut. Gurrrrr! Morgan always gives me crap-friendly crap-while we are riding saying how slow we are, why is he always in front, why aren't we staying up with him and crazy Flaco??? Listen here Buddy, let's switch horses and see how well you do. Funny how he always gets Flaco and I get slow poke. Anyway, while trying to learn how to run on Albert, Morgan has to keep saying, "Now kick it up a gear!!" Now, most horses you just have to kick them once to walk, twice to gallop, and three times and they are running. Well Albert I kick three times and he's running...maybe a few steps, then he's back down to galloping. So I have to keep kicking him to run, while some how managing to hang on??? It's a work out. Oh, while my sweet husband tells me that I shouldn't be holding on at all, that this is going to cause me to not be able to steer him correctly, he could take a sharp turn on his own free will...and throw me off. Really??? Why do I want to learn how to run on a horse again?? I'm not sure anymore...

When we got back to the barn this was the view we had...hahaha!

You know that song, "She thinks my tractor's sexy..." I can't help but think of that song every time I see Morgan on one of them. As you can tell, this isn't our nice, A/C, radio, sun roof tractor. No clue how old this one is. Can't imagine how they still farm on this thing, but they do sometimes. Anyway, took this picture the other day of him on it and just thought I'd share. :)

Cowboy Take Me Away

2011-03-05T09:29:00.004-06:00

Dixie Chicks, Cowboy Take Me Away

I said I wanna touch the earth
I wanna break it in my hands
I wanna grow something wild and unruly

I wanna sleep on the hard ground
In the comfort of your arms
On a pillow of blue bonnets
And a blanket made of stars

Oh it sounds good to me

I said cowboy take me away
Fly this girl as high as you can
Into the wild blue
Set me free oh I pray
Closer to Heaven above
And closer to you
Closer to you

I wanna walk and not run
I wanna skip and not fall
I wanna look at the horizon
And not see a building standing tall

I wanna be the only one
For miles and miles
Except for maybe you
And your simple smile

Oh it sounds good to me
Yes it sounds so good to me

Cowboy take me away
Fly this girl as high as you can
Into the wild blue
Set me free oh I pray
Closer to Heaven above
And closer to you
Closer to you

I said I wanna touch the earth
I wanna break it in my hands
I wanna grow something wild and unruly
Oh it sounds so good to me

Cowboy take me away
Fly this girl as high as you can
Into the wild blue
Set me free oh I pray
Closer to Heaven above
And closer to you
Closer to you

Closer to you

Cowboy take me away

Closer to you

When I was younger, back when this song first came out, I used to imagine this "Cowboy" and how romantic, simple, and nice it must be to have someone like that. I'd imagine this song in my mind. Well who would have ever known that it would have ever become a reality for this City Girl?? Not me. As much as I sometimes wish that I lived in the city and all the conveniences that brings, I am also thankful to be able to walk out in my backyard and lay in the hammock without "city noise", to actually be able to listen to nature, or actually be able to see ALL of the beautiful stars at night!! You city folks are truly missing out on God's amazing light show!! There are times when I am with my Cowboy down at the barn, on a tractor, or riding horses and no one else is around that I think to myself, "It's so weird to think that right now there are millions of people on this earth...but yet not a one of them is in sight for as far as I can see. All I see is gorgeous open land!" I love the only thing in sight is that "simple smile" of his. :) I'm a lucky girl! I love how being out here does slow you down and not make you feel so rushed...rushed...rushed! Don't get me wrong, when the cows decide to break free or the rain is coming...the pace does pick up. But other than that, life is pretty calm around here and I am okay with that. ;) If you want to hear this song, scroll down to the bottom of this blog. It's in my play list.

Craft Craze Day

2011-03-01T20:45:00.011-06:00

Savita was our photographer, so she's missing. :(

Quick Note...notice how we're all dressed the same??? A shirt with a light little sweater type jacket over it??? Guess we some how all got the subconscious memo to dress alike. Made me laugh! Even Savita is dressed this way!

Today was "Craft Craze" Day. This is quickly becoming my favorite day of the month!! I went back to my last blog post and put our names under the picture I posted so you would know who is who...so when I throw names out you'll know who I am talking about.

Have you ever had those days where you just wake up and for a brief moment in time everything feels PERFECT? Today was one of those for me. Actually, the entire day felt so perfect!! The sun was shining and I was getting to go hang out with some fun girls and get to craft while having a blast. We laugh sooooo much at ourselves and each other. Today we met at Nina's house. Oh my word!!! I can't even begin to describe how GORGEOUS her house is!! Or Big!! She's such a natural hostess and had brunch waiting for the 4 of us when we got there. I mean, the type of stuff that would most likely take me HOURS to make and stress over, she just whips out of the oven like no big deal. I wish I could be like that! I wish I had a house like that to host in!!

Savita is our fearless leader. I wish everyone had someone like her in their lives. She's just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. One of the sweetest people you could ever meet. She's the one that's been getting our projects together, buying the stuff, and organizing for us. All so effortless I must say...while taking care of her three kids and husband. No clue how she does it. I can barely keep me and Lillie Bear together, much less 3 other human beings...and a husband, to boot.

Anyway, we ate and then whipped out our hot glue guns and got to crafting...and burning out fingertips off. DANG!! That stuff is HOT!! We were all jumping and semi yelling when we were caught off guard by the glue. Except for Lydia who amazingly has some high pain tolerance...or is just better at keeping her squeals inside than the rest of us. We made these flowers today, buttons and all. They are super cute! Savita walked in with one on her little craft bag she had all of the supplies in. Then showed us how we can put them on hats, tank tops, shirts, hair etc. Apparently, Savita thinks we are just amazing crafters and could bust out 9 of these in one crafting day. Lydia and I also thought that we might possibly need to do two projects today because we'd fly through these things...WRONG!! Oh my goodness, they are kind of hard. I think if you were to remove from the equation the possibility of burning fingers with a glue gun, this might have been possible. But since you have to take your time, they take a while. Lydia and I made 3, Stephanie 2, and Nina was the overachiever with 4. Savita whipped out 3, but she doesn't count since she had already practiced on many of them, so she already had the skill down. :) Plus, she had to leave a little earlier than the rest of us so I'm sure it would've been more like 6 for her if she'd stayed the entire time. ;) So here is the result of our Craft Craze Day...

This is one of Stephanie's that she did today. She went home and put the flower in her sweet little girl's hair. I think it looks precious! Her daughter now wants her to make them for all of the girls in her class...good luck with that Steph! We see many late nights in your very near future. ;)

These were Nina's. I just LoVe the blue and orange one. Can't wait to make one of those for myself.

Here's a close up of one of my flowers. I'm too tired to figure out the settings on my camera to take a nice looking pictures...so this is what you get.

These were the 3 I made. Trust me, they look way better in person. Haha! But, no, seriously they do!!

So that's what we did today. Once again, I'm so lucky to be a part of this group of girls. Love them! I had a lady that I work with the other day ask me if my life is really always so Happy! Made me laugh. She wasn't being rude, just curious. I told her, "Hell No!" But I just choose to focus on the good. There's so much more good in life than bad. Who wants to walk around all day being depressed?? Not me! I have such amazing friends in my life! Friends that I can call in a moments notice for anything, at anytime of the day, and they would come running. I would never hesitate to do the same for them!! So yes, most of my blogs are up beat, most of my facebook posts are about the good in my life...DEAL WITH IT!! :-)

Craft Group

2011-02-11T07:28:00.004-06:00

Lydia, Nina, Me, Stephanie, & Savita

Well who would have ever thought that I would ever be part of a Craft Group!! Oh how fun it is, though!! I will say, going into this I was a little nervous...okay, maybe more than a little. These girls are far from the "judging" type, but I still couldn't help but say a silent little prayer, "Lord, Pleasssse let my heart turn out half way decent!!!" These other girls have kiddos and are always crafting it up. Me on the other hand, not so much...until now. I mean, I can color with the best of them, make semi-okay looking necklaces, and even make a decent looking flower arrangement. But when pins, glue, felt, etc become involved, I get a little nervous. But I am over all of that now after surviving the first meeting of the "Craft Club." We had lots of fun. These girls are all so sweet and funny. I'm so lucky to have been asked to be part of this little group of crafters. We're getting together again the first of March so I'll post what we do then, too!! Wish Me Luck!!

Layla's Slightly Spoiled

2011-01-31T20:53:00.007-06:00

This weekend I was down visiting my parents and my dad was informing me about how the weather was going to take a turn towards the worst this week-tomorrow to be exact. We were talking about Layla, our outside cat. For an outside-barn-country cat, she's become slightly spoiled. Layla gets fed at the same time every day and still has her little bed on our back porch. We change her towels out that are in her bed when they get cold or wet. So my dad and I were discussing the concern we have for her when the temperatures drop to the teens with the wind chill factor around 0 degrees. I told my dad that I wouldn't mind putting Layla in our back laundry/junk room, but how would she go to the bathroom? It's not like it is with Lillie where we let her outside, tell her to do her business, she does, and then comes right back in. Layla would be like, "Huh??? I don't' understand. I'm a cat, not a DOG!" So my dad made Layla a litter box and sent it home with me. Well I brought it home and was telling Morgan all of this. The weather always seems to be worse out here than in the city. The roads can be semi-okay in the city, but hit our 5 mile country road and you better pray, cross your fingers, drive super slow, drive with both hands (yes, this is not the norm for me), and hope you make it to your house while driving on this curvy, one lane country road. Remember when it snowed a few weeks ago? Well...this was our house 5 days later...

while Plano, Frisco, Fort Worth, etc snow had melted, we still had a winter wonderland to deal with. It was sooooo bizarre. Anyway, so tonight it was time to grab Layla and bring her inside. Morgan said she was probably already in the barn. I opened the back door and was like, "Nope, she's right here!" So I scooped her up, loved on her, and put her in the backroom. I then turned off the light and left her alone. Well Morgan then tells me how she's an outside cat and asked me something about haven't I ever seen on TV how cats tear up rooms??? And, he informed me she will most likely start crying. So after a little while I decided that maybe I should check on Layla to make sure she hasn't torn anything up and this is what I saw...

yeah, she's really sad and out of control in there!!! ;)

Stranger...Does Not Always Equal Danger!

2011-01-21T17:34:00.004-06:00

Well, blogger world...HELLO!! I really just feel like I haven't really had much to post about lately. I've had unnecessary drama in my life and thankfully it's over. I didn't let it still my JOY thanks to some pretty great friends in my life!! Why do we tend to focus on the ONE bad thing and overlook alllllllllll the other amazing things??? Well I am happy and blessed...and right now that's all that matters!! :-)

So onto my day today. By the time you get threw reading this you might think I am crazy, but that's okay. I AM! Haha! I think differently than most. I tend to think that God has a big hand in my life where others just might consider it a "coincidence." Today I had to go for a CT scan to see if my hernia was back. When I got there they told me that I was going to have to drink a cup of stuff, wait 30 minutes, drink another cup, wait 30 minutes and then they would do my procedure. I was thinking, "GREAT!! I should have brought my Kindle...what was I thinking??? What am I going to do for an hour...stare at the wall??? Everyone else in here has someone with them/someone to talk to, I have no one." Sorry, kinda threw myself a mini pity party. Well little did I know that God was going to bless me today with a sweet older black lady to talk to. The nurse was going to have me sit in this one section, but because I requested a magazine, he moved me to this tiny little section sitting across from this older black couple. Now when I say "older" I'm talking about my parents age. (No offense mom & dad!! Y'all are still super young in my eyes!!) Looking at them...and looking at me...you would think we'd have nothing in common. Well her husband had to go back and get his IV started, get his procedure done, etc. It took some time. As I was reading my magazine, she started talking to me about how sleepy she was and how they might ask her to go to the car if she starts snoring. I started laughing and before you knew it, we were just a chattin' away like we were long lost friends. She talked about how much her husband snores at night, I did too. She talked about her daughter, her son, and that her husband had been diagnosed with lung cancer a few years back but was now cancer free. I just assumed they were there to have a scan done to make sure he was still healthy. You could tell she was a strong Christian lady. Before you knew it, my hour flew by. By the time her husband was done, it was my turn to go back. I told her that it was SO good to talk to her and she walked over, patted me on the back and said, "Have a blessed day!" I can't help but think God had a little hand in helping my time pass a little faster!!

Do you ever feel like you are wearing a sign that says, "Please tell me your life story!" ??? Some days are like that for me. Complete strangers will tell me all about themselves, but I don't mind. Today I went to the bank to cash a check for Morgan. I wasn't sure if I could since it was made out to him so I asked the first guy I saw when I walked in the door. Next thing you know, I'm talking to two of the men/employees. One's telling me all about how he used to live in California, but now lives in McKinney. He has to drive to Anna when he has parties to get his alcohol since McKinney is dry...then he semi freaked out and told me, "Please don't think bad of me or that I am an alcoholic." I said, "Well actually, you sound like a pretty fun guy!!" Then the other guy started telling me how his wife is a Parkland NICU nurse, they live in Anna, have 3 kids, and really want to sale their house to move closer to her work. So me wanting to cash a check lead to me finding out information about two complete strangers...I love my life...seriously, I do!!

The other day I posted on facebook about how the older generation seems to just strike up conversations with each other like they are long lost friends, when in fact they are complete strangers. I had this happen twice to me today and it made my heart happy!! What a better world this would be if we would all get our noses out of our phones, computers, etc. and acknowledge the people around us and get to know them!! This world would be a friendlier place, that's for sure!!

Granny & Nannie

2010-11-19T16:06:00.005-06:00

It's funny how I can miss someone that I've never met so much that my heart hurts. God decided that He would take my Granny a year before I was born, so I never got to meet her. Oh how I would give anything to meet the woman that raised my mother-the best woman in the world. I've heard stories about her and for some reason, every time I picture her in my head I imagine her standing in the kitchen, with an apron on, cooking.
Today I went down to my Nannie's house. Technically, she's Morgan's Nannie, but she feels like she's been my Nannie my entire life. So she's "my Nannie." Well I went down there to discuss Dancing With the Stars from this past Tuesday night and to make sure her heart was still beating after the results...there's a whole other story here-that's funny-but I'm not allowed to go into it. Anyway, I walked into her kitchen and there was Nannie standing at her 40+ year old oven/stove mixing some icing for a cake she had just made. On the counter there was also a Pineapple Pie she had also made. Her house smelt heavenly and the sight of her standing there baking was like a little piece of Heaven on earth for me. When she was done putting the icing on the cake she gave me the pan and spoon to lick. :-) We had small talk and when I was leaving she told me how much she loves me coming down and talking with her and I told her that I loved coming down there, too.
It didn't hit me until I was leaving and driving down her driveway and tears started streaming down my face how much she makes me miss my Granny, a lady I never got to meet but love so much. So to you God, even though you took my Granny away from this earth before I was born...Thank You so much for blessing me with sweet Nannie!!! By the way, if you are ever around my mom and my Nannie you will notice how they tend to gravitate towards each other. They both adore each other and this makes my heart happy!!!

***In the picture above, Nannie is the lady in the middle. Her sister & her daughter are also in the picture.***

Hooptie Blue...You give me the Blues!!

2010-11-18T16:02:00.002-06:00

I have a whole new appreciation for my Honda Accord! WOW! As thankful I am that my car is fixed, this is what I was STUCK in the past few days...

HOOPTIE BLUE-I named it this because it felt like I was riding in a big ole box and it was blue. No, this is not the actual picture of the rental car.

No offense to anyone who drives this or a minivan. This car is like a mini minivan. Even has the sliding doors to go with it. UGH!!! Kill me now!! One of my besties said, "It's kinda cute." As I'm dying of humiliation. I offered to switch and drive her Lexus until my car was fixed and she could drive this, but funny how she didn't take me up on it, lol. Today when I got in my car I litterally hugged the stearing wheel. Back on the day I got this car as a rental I practically begged the guy for another car, but he said this was all they had. Actually, he offered me the silver one sitting right next to it and in hindsight I should've taken him up on it because it had Misouri license plates. That way if anyone thought they saw me out on the roads in this car they would think to themselves, "No, that couldn't have been Laura. She's not from Misouri." I still don't believe him, but I wasn't going to argue considering it was free to me. Rental cars could at least come with tinted windows to help us save some dignity. After a few hours, I discovered that it has the type of engine where you can switch it to where it's like a manual, but without the clutch. Jackpot! This was the only thing that made this car tolerable. Boy was I hot ridin' around, lookin' like a bullet shootin' down 121. LOL! The thought of this makes me laugh. Anyway, it is a "nice" car if you like the feel of a minivan and the engine is nice...just not my style. So in a strange weird way I am kind of glad I was stuck in this car for a few days because it gave me a great new appreciation for my Honda...something that I might not of had without this lovely experience.

Thunder Conversation

2010-11-02T20:29:00.004-05:00

Tonight on the way to dinner I was telling Morgan how loud the thunder was this morning at the house. How it was literally shaking the walls of our home. This was the conversation that followed...

Me: "Morgan, what causes thunder?" (I'm dead serious!)
Morgan: "God moving his furniture around."
Me: I give him a look like, "Seriously!!!"
Morgan: He then shakes his head "yes" and has this look in his eyes like he's being 100% serious.
Me: I look away-slightly annoyed.
Morgan: "And when it rains it means God is peeing and when there's a tornado it means that God just flushed the toilet."
Me: I give him a look like he's crazzzy and start laughing.

GOTTA LOVE BOYS!!!
...and i still don't know exactly what causes thunder.

Love Me Some Halloween

2010-10-31T19:34:00.014-05:00

I absolutely looove Halloween!! Not sure why?? I think it has a lot to do with the weather. It seems to be the time when the weather is changing to cool, leaves are turning colors, football games, the beginning smells of fire places/campfires, etc. But also, how can you resist those adorable little kids in costumes!! I really wish we lived where we had tons of kids that came knocking on our door saying, "trick-or-treat."

Today I was lucky enough to be cancelled from work. Most people would worry when they got a 5 am phone call, but not us nurses. We know nothing but good news is on the other end! I was especially happy because last night when Morgan realized I was scheduled to work today and said in the saddest voice ever with the saddest face, "But I thought we were going to get to spend the day together tomorrow!" I was bummed, too. Feels like we haven't really had much "Morgan and Laura" time lately and plus, it was Halloween! BUT...I got the day off and we had a great day. Told him that all I wanted to do was go to lunch, go get my first Cinnamon Dulce Latte of the season (I had a Starbucks gift card from a baby shower I went to-I won the "baby" game-shocker, I know.), and then hunt down a pumpkin for us to carve. Well apparently my procrastination almost bit me in the butt this year. I mean, what were we thinking??? Being able to find a pumpkin in McKinney was near impossible. Actually, it was impossible. Saw many in the yards of homes and sitting by the door of businesses that were obviously not being used to their full potential-thus making me really want to be a pumpkin thief-but I didn't. Morgan then remembered a little pumpkin patch in Princeton, thank goodness!! So home we went with our lovely pumpkin! Please excuse the pictures below, totally forgot to put on makeup. :-(

Me with my lovely pumpkin. No Judging! It was the best that us procrastinators could find!!

Seriously, I hate this part!! I hate the slimy mess. I know some people love it, but not me.

This is kind of like torture for me.

Morgan helping me out...no, this is not our house in the background. HAHA! Just a really old, cool lookin' barn.

I have "Pumpkin Wounds." Hard to see, but my fingers were bruised from all the scraping I did.

Time for carving. I drew the face on and then Morgan went to carving it out.

He told me I needed to help, but then he quickly took the knife from me after saying that I scared him with the knife. I obviously wasn't holding it to his liking. ; )

Here's our pumpkin baby...only its mama and its daddy could love this face!!

Sorry, had to put one on here with me looking half way decent after posting those other pics.

And here she is!! Happy Halloween Everyone!!!

Adorable Morgan

2010-10-14T16:09:00.003-05:00

If my memory is correct, tomorrow will be 4 years from when the cutest, sweetest guy with pretty blue eyes showed up on my doorstep for a first "blind" date. I hear people that have been together for a long time say, "I just couldn't imagine loving him/her more, but then they do something that makes me love him/her even more." Morgan constantly makes me laugh with things he says and does. Very, and I mean VERY, few people get to see this side of him. When he's around a bunch of people he kind of pulls back into his shell and is more shy. When it's just family or really REALLY close friends, then he's 100% himself. I wish everyone got to see this side of him because it's just so adorable.

Last night was one of those nights that made me just love my country boy even more! It's probably going to be one of those things where you had to be there to think it's as funny/cute as me, but I will share it anyway. Mainly because when I look back, I don't want to forget this memory. I'm semi obsessed with the game Minesweeper. For those that don't know what this is, it's where you click on a square and it will show a number-if you're lucky to not hit a bomb. The number represents how many bombs are around it and then you flag where you think/know where the bombs are. The goal is to complete the board without bombing the whole thing up. Morgan has watched me play this game several times, but yet he won't let me explain it to him. Which, of course, he bombs the board almost immediately. He's a very smart man, just doesn't want to listen me...imagine that, lol. So last night we were laying in bed and I was watching one of my shows that he was obviously not into. He grabbed the computer and I didn't pay attention for a while to what he was doing. Well I look over and he has the entire board flagged with one big design that had his initial in the middle of it. Oh my, I busted out laughing so hard!! Looooove his creativity!!! I just fell in love with his cuteness all over again lat night!!! I'm soooooo blessed to be married to this country boy of mine!

(I'm pretty sure he's going to kill me for posting this about him!!)

State Fair 2010

2010-10-13T16:27:00.002-05:00

It started off with a bang and ended with a mess!!! Since we get in free and parking is free thanks to Morgan's work, we always go to the fair. This year we took one of my besties, her husband, her son, and one of his friends. This is a friend of mine who pays attention to the important details and so we started the morning off right with mimosas. YUM! Love these, but yet never seem to have one. So that was a nice little treat. We then made it to the fair around 10 am. We had to get there in time in order to experience the fair in its completeness before getting home in time to watch the Cowboys game that afternoon. Considering the Cowboys seem to be royally sucking it up this year, not sure why we cared. Anyway, the big thing to try this year was the Fried Frito Pie. Boy was it delicious. The group seemed to like the Fried Pecan Pie the best, but I loved the frito pie. I also had to have the Fried Butter again. We then walked around, enjoyed some rides, they enjoyed a corny dog, and I grabbed a bag of cotton candy on the way out...a must have for me!!
We then cruise on back to their house and watch the ridiculously high scoring Cowboy game. After I had finished half of my cotton candy bag, I started drinking a Mike's Hard Lemonade drink. HUGE mistake!!! I started to not feel well, but was starving and so we all went out to dinner at a yummy Mexican restaurant. I had another Margarita, but just limited it to one since I wasn't feeling well.
As soon as Morgan and I left their house I took a turn for the worse. My head was killing me and I felt like I needed to throw up. I've seriously maybe have thrown up 5 times in my life, if that many. Well on the way home we have to make this sharp loop to get on 75 and as we were approaching it I was thinking to myself, this is going to do me in!! Sure enough, it did-which I was thankful for. Morgan pulled over in the Kohl's parking lot where I began to hurl and hurl and hurl!!! I haven't been that sick since the day after Cinco de Mayo 2006. I get back in the car and tell Morgan that I didn't know how I was going to make it home. I was sooooo sick!! He told me to hang on and that he'd get me there!! I knew if I could just make it to my bed and pillow I would feel better, but the closer we got to home the more I began to feel like I was having a panic/anxiety attack. (Kinda like the closer you get to home the worse you have to pee.) I could hardly speak, felt like my chest was tight, hard to breathe. I then tell Morgan that I felt like I was having a panic attack. He then says to me, "YOU THINK YOU'RE HAVING A PANIC ATTACK?!?!?" I then told him that him panicking over me possibly having a panic attack wasn't helping!!! I thankfully made it home, into the bathroom, where I began to finish it off. Bless my husband. As I was sitting on the toilet with a trash can in my lap, he quietly got a cold wash cloth (without me having to ask) and put it on my face. He then got a wet towel and washed my legs and feet off. He's the best!!! The next day he said he had never seen me so sick. I'm sure I wasn't a pretty sight!!
So if you ever go to the state fair I highly suggest that you limit your fried food intake and don't mix half a bag of cotton candy with an alcoholic beverage. I did tell my friend that the good thing about being so sick was that those calories didn't count!!! :-)

Red Light Tickets :(

2010-10-08T19:27:00.003-05:00

Sometimes I wonder why God had me move from Fort Worth to where I live now knowing how much I LOVE Fort Worth. Well I think I have my answer. Other than the fact that my wonderful country boy who is a perfect match for me happened to live in another city, God moved me out of Fort Worth because he knew my wallet would not be able to afford it. What are you talking about, Laura???-you may ask. Well apparently the city of Fort Worth Red Light Ticket program works quite well and LOVES me!! I've gotten 3 of them now. Honestly, one of them I am not even sure if I was driving or Morgan, but my dad (who is a very safe driver) got a ticket at the same light I did so that one is questionable. The other 2 I got for turning right. Apparently I didn't sit there for 2 decades to make sure the traffic was clear before turning. I'm starting to cringe now when I check the mail. It's sad when Morgan knows what's inside the envelope before even opening. :( I heard the other day that Collin County is one of the wealthiest counties in Texas. I'm finding it hard to believe that considering all of my money is going to Tarrant!!! Gurrrr!!! So be careful all of you Fort Worth drivers...and GOOD LUCK!!!

Oh HaPpY DaY!!

2010-09-30T20:43:00.004-05:00

(Taken today while I was enjoying some Hammock time...incase y'all forgot who I was, haha!)

I'm OFFICIALLY back!!!!! It only took several months, 3 trips out from the Internet people, and one 30 foot tower pole on top of our house to fix our Internet issue. Yes, I said THIRTY foot tower pole!! Looks like a windmill with a satellite dish on top. Morgan was just soooooo sure that I miss heard the guy when he told me what they were going to have to do (during trip 2 out to our house). He was laughing telling me there was NO WAY it's 30 feet high, that maybe he said 3 foot. NOPE! When the guys showed up with a ridiculous long pole, because it was laying on the ground at the time, Morgan said, "Babe, that thing is LONG!" TOLD YOU...was my response. I demanded an apology because it's way up there. Morgan said tonight as we were driving to dinner, "I hope an airplane doesn't hit our house! Maybe we should put a red light on top of it." He was joking, but it is pretty darn high up there. I offered to paint it hot pink or red just to make sure everyone notices it driving by...because the only way they wouldn't notice it is if they were legally blind. It's crazy!! I'm praying lightening doesn't strike it or that an extremely high wind gust doesn't come through because we're in trouble. But at least I have super-and I mean SUPER-fast Internet now, right??? Ahhhh, I'm so happy!! :) I should be posting more regularly now to those that have been sweet enough to tell me they've missed my posts.

Sisters

2010-08-31T14:01:00.002-05:00

I received this email again today and it's another one of my favorites. Very True!! I sometimes think God gave me some of the friends I have because he didn't bless me with sisters. Insead, He blessed me with these AMAZING friends in my life!!! They feel just like sisters to me. Plus, I am so thankful for all of the wonderful women in my life who have known me since I was a baby, my mom, cousins, and everyone else in between. Love you all!!! - Laura

A young wife sat on a sofa on a hot humid day,
Drinking iced tea and visiting with her mother. As
they talked about life, about marriage, about the
responsibilities of life and the obligations of
adulthood, the mother clinked the ice cubes in her
glass thoughtfully and turned a clear, sober glance
upon her daughter.

'Don't forget your sisters, she advised, swirling
the tea leaves to the bottom of her glass. They'll
be more important as you get older. No matter how
much you love your husband, no matter how much you
love the children you may have, you are still going
to need sisters. Remember to go places with them now
and then; do things with them.

Remember that 'sisters' means ALL the women...
your girlfriends, your daughters, and all your other
women relatives too.. 'You'll need other women. Women
always do.'

What a funny piece of advice! The young woman
thought. Haven't I just gotten married? Haven't I just joined the
couple-world?
I'm now a married woman, for goodness sake! A grownup! Surely my husband and
the
family we may start will be all I need to make my life worthwhile!

But she listened to her mother. She kept contact with her sisters and made
more
women friends each year. As the years tumbled by, one after another, she
gradually came to understand that her mother really knew what she was
talking
about. As time and nature work their changes and their mysteries upon a
woman,
sisters are the main stays of her life.

After more than 50 years of living in this world, here is what I've learned:
THIS SAYS IT ALL:

Time passes.
Life happens.
Distance separates.
Children grow up.
Jobs come and go.
Love waxes and wanes.

Men don't do what they're supposed to do.
Hearts break.
Parents die.
Colleagues forget favors.
Careers end.

BUT.........
Sisters are there, no matter how much time and how
many miles are between you. A girl friend is never farther away than needing
her
can reach.

When you have to walk that lonesome valley and you
have to walk it by yourself, the women in your life will be on the valley's
rim,
cheering you on, praying for you, pulling for you, intervening on your
behalf,
and waiting with open arms at the valley's end..

(Now this is the part that brings tears to my eyes every single time I am reading it because it reminds me of the scene in Sex & The City where Miranda's mother had died, they were at the funeral, and Carrie steps out of her seat-grabs Miranda's hand-and walks down the aisle with her.)
Sometimes, they will even break the rules and walk
beside you...Or come in and carry you out.
Girlfriends, daughters, granddaughters, daughters-in-law, sisters,-in-law,
Mothers, Grandmothers, aunties, nieces, cousins, and extended family: all
bless
our life!

The world wouldn't be the same without women, and
neither would I. When we began this adventure called
womanhood, we had no idea of the incredible joys or
sorrows that lay ahead. Nor did we know how much we
would need each other..

Every day, we need each other still. Pass this on to all the women who help
make
your life meaningful.

SHOULDA COULDA WOULDA

2010-08-31T13:45:00.003-05:00

I received this email and I really loved it. First, I loved the title...shoulda coulda woulda. I say this sometimes to my friends and I am pretty sure it annoys them. I learned this lesson a long time ago when I was interested in a guy. I can't remember exactly what happened. I remember we had hung out a couple times and then I thought about calling him to see if he wanted to do something. I told him this a few days later (because I never did call him) and his response to me was, "shoulda coulda woulda." I swear to this day when I say this to someone I think of him. SO TRUE!!! You will get NO WHERE in life if you just "think" about doing something. We have to act on those thoughts. ANYWAY, that's why I loved this email. I decided to post this here because almost everyone I sent it to, and I sent it to LOTS of people, responded back to me-rarey ever happens that I get one response back. You're also going to have to read it with all of the ">" because I started to delete them but let's face it, I am not a very patient person and really don't want to take the time doing it. :)

VERY THOUGHT PROVOKING - NOW IF WE CAN ALL "CHANGE" -
"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way
to succeed is always to try just one more time." - Thomas Edison

READ THIS VERY SLOWLY... IT'S PRETTY PROFOUND.

Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't
thought about it, don't have it on their
schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their
routine.
>>>
>>>
>>>>I got to thinking one day about all those people on the Titanic who passed up
>>>>dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort
>>>to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible.
>>>>
>>>>How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn't suggest
>>>>going out to dinner until after something had
>>>been thawed? Does the word 'refrigeration' mean nothing to you?
>>>>
>>>>How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched
>>>>'Jeopardy' on television?
>>>>
>>>> I cannot count the times I called my sister and said, 'How about going to lunch
>>>>in a half hour?' She would gas up and stammer,
>>>'I can't. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known
>>>yesterday, I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain' And my personal
>>>favorite: 'It's Monday.' She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch
>>>together.
>>>
>>>>
>>>>Because Americans cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our
>>>>headaches.. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make
>>>to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect!
>>>>
>>>>We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Steve
>>>toilet-trained. We'll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet.
>>>We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college.
>>>>
>>>> Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the
>>>>list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One
>>>morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of 'I'm
>>>going to,' 'I plan on,' and 'Someday, when things are settled down a bit.'
>>>>
>>>>When anyone calls my 'seize the moment' friend, she is open to adventure and
>>>>available for trips. She keeps an open mind on new
>>>ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk with her for five
>>>minutes, and you're ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of
>>>Rollerblades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord.
>>>>
>>>>My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream. It's just that
>>>>I might as well apply it directly to my stomach
>>>with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process. The other day, I stopped
>>the
>>>car and bought a triple-decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I
>>>would have died happy.
>>>
>>>>Now...go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to...not something on
>>>>your SHOULD DO list. If you were going to die soon
>>>and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would
>>>you say? And why are you waiting?
>>>
>>>>
>>>>Make sure you read this to the end; you will understand why I sent this to you.
>>>
>>>>
>>>>Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to the rain
>>>>lapping on the ground? Ever followed a butterfly's
>>>erratic flight or gazed at the sun into the fading night? Do you run through
>>>each day on the fly? When you ask 'How are you?' Do you hear the reply?
>>>>
>>>>When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores
>>>>running through your head? Ever told your child, 'We'll
>>>do it tomorrow.' And in your haste, not see his sorrow? Ever lost touch? Let a
>>>good friendship die? Just call to say 'Hi'?
>>>
>>>>
>>>>When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift....Thrown
>>>>away.... Life is not a race. Take it slower.
>>>Hear the music before the song is over.
>>>>
>>>>Show your friends how much you care. Send this to everyone you consider a FRIEND
>>>>including me if you consider me a friend. If it
>>>comes back to you, then you'll know you have a circle of friends.
>>>>
>>>>To those I have sent this to... I cherish our friendship and appreciate all you
>>>>do. We have some history together.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> 'Life may not be the party we hoped for... but while we are here we might as
>>>>well dance!'

Big Green Tractor

2010-07-27T17:36:00.003-05:00

Recently, the farming boy in my life got a new John Deere Tractor. So this past Saturday I helped him bail some hay. Yes, I helped him. He actually let me sit behind the wheel and make bails of hay-the best looking ones in the field if I do say so myself. HaHa! Totally Kidding! Seemed like the bailer acted up with me behind the wheel more than it did with Morgan, but my sweet husband never complained once. Regardless of how many times he had to jump out of the tractor and fix whatever was wrong. Let me say, I have no clue how the farmers did this before ac, a radio, and glass protecting them from all of the hay flying around. UGH!!! Thank goodness I was born a woman!! A city-girl at that!! I must say though, I LOVE the way a huge field looks with tons of bails of hay. I think this field bailed 350. This was my view for 6 hours this past Saturday and the time actually flew by.

When I got to the field with Morgan I was informed by my father in law that Morgan spent $400 for this little passenger seat to be installed for me so I better get my a$$ up there and ride with him-said with LoVe, of course. Although it does beat standing, it does make one's booty a little sore.

As Morgan was attending to the bailer, I snapped this pic of me as proof that I was actually out there with him. Sorry about the nastyness of this picture!!! Also, I've realized after being with him for 4 years now, I still am not sure how to spell bailer...is it bailer, baler, or neither???

Birthday Fun!

2010-07-19T13:51:00.005-05:00

Sorry friends and family, our computer needs a new router and I am too lazy to get it fixed so that means I haven't had much computer time. Actually, we did make a huge effort to get it fixed, but Morgan and I failed miserably. My Blackberry can only do so much. ;) Hopefully this week, or next week, I will get it fixed.

So it looks like I lived to see another year, which is a good thing. I don't look at birthdays as a bad thing, like many people do. I hear people say that they want to act like the day doesn't exist. Why???-I ask. We should celebrate that God granted us another year on this earth to live and enjoy life. There are so many people who get taken from this earth way too soon, so we should be grateful that we get to celebrate another year of life!!!

This year I chose to celebrate my birthday with one of my best friends. Her birthday comes 3 days after mine so this year, since mine fell on a Sunday, we decided we would celebrate all weekend long. But first, I had to do some celebrating with my family. My parents came up that Friday before my birthday and celebrated with us and Morgan's family...along with a few other friends. We had a great time laughing, telling stories, and eating good food. I got this famous birthday cake again, just different numbers on top...

We all love this cake! Remember, it's our wedding cake but in birthday cake form. I think if I ever decided that I wanted a different cake for my birthday, my family wouldn't have it! They all love this cake too much. I was kind of sad that I only got one little piece this year. I sent the rest home with other people. So next year, this will NOT happen-sorry folks!!!

For Saturday and Sunday, Lydia and I had these great plans for ourselves and our husbands. Too bad this was the same weekend it decided to rain!!! :( Ughhhh, annoying! I mean it hardly ever rains and rains and rains, but it chooses to do so on a weekend when tons of people have outside plans. We were going to spend both days at the lake. That didn't happen Saturday. Instead, we went to dinner and then watched the fireworks at Kaboom town with another couple and their kids. It was lots of fun...minus one thing...we went to Yucatan Taco Stand prior to seeing the fireworks because I had been bragging about how good it was. It was a fun evening until the aftermath of this kicked in...

Morgan decided to order the fish bowl-type of drink. Morgan and I took one sip of it and we both almost vomited. Apparently, we didn't mix all the alcohols up good enough. It was so strong. We went to the fireworks and on the way home I started to not feel well. I was really nauseous and had a bad headache. Needless to say, I turned into a party pooper and a wimp and marched my happy butt upstairs and went to bed. :( While everyone else stayed up until 2 am playing poker. The next morning I was feeling good-thank goodness-and we all headed to the lake. We had lots of fun and it turned out to be a great birthday weekend, despite the rain!!

Last night after work we ventured back to Yucatan Taco Stand-minus the fish bowl drink-and had a great dinner. This is a picture of Lydia and her daughter Britni-who is too stinkin' cute!!

While we were busy talking about Britni's future wedding-which NO she's not engaged and NO she's not getting married for a looooooong time, but it's fun to talk about it-we were apparently boring the boys...

This picture makes me laugh because I am pretty sure I know what they are doing, looking at pictures of barely dressed girls on their phones. ;)

Boring? Okay, Maybe not so Boring!

2010-06-03T10:55:00.008-05:00

I've had several people ask me why I haven't blogged about anything in a while. I just told them that my life has been boring and not much to talk about. But as I was pulling pictures for this particular blog post, I realized that I have had things filling my life. I guess I just don't take pictures like I used to since I have gained weight and so that leads me to not blog. I like pics to help describe what's happened and so since the pics aren't happening, neither are the blog posts.

Anyway, for our 2 year Anniversary Morgan and I decided on San Antonio. My parents used to take us there every year as we were growing up and it had been many years since I have been back. We stayed on the Riverwalk at the Drury Plaza. We highly recommend it!! Full blown hot fresh breakfast-buffet style every morning. Then from 5:30-7pm they have what's called a "kick back" where you get appetizers and 3 free alcoholic drinks. They always have fountain drinks and pop corn for free 24/7 so that was also nice. We went to Sea World, walked the Riverwalk, and stumbled upon the Alamo. I say, "Stumbled" because we had no intentions visiting it. I realize that might sound awful, it's just that I had been there a million times and so I didn't see the need to visit it again. Well we "stumbled" upon it and wow, it's so much smaller than I remember as a child!!! We also went to the mall and watched a 3D movie about the Ocean. It was really cool. I surprisingly forgot my camera...remember, the weight issue...and so sadly this is our only picture from our trip...
We've also recently had the chance to go to a Ranger's Game...for FREE!! :) Plus, it was $1 Hot Dog Night. :) My cousin's husband called me one afternoon and asked me if we wanted to go to the Ranger's Game that evening. Sure! Haven't been in a loooong time. Used to go a lot when Pudge was our catcher. Anyway, he wanted to surprise my cousin with us-he had told her some men from his work were going instead of us-since we hadn't seen her in a while. So that was fun! We had GREAT seats. Along the 3rd baseline about 20 rows up! The type of seats where you have to pay attention to the game or you might get smacked in the head by a foul ball. Thankfully Morgan took his role seriously when my cousin told the boys, "Y'all better pay attention and not let us get hit by a ball!!" Every time a ball came our way my sweet husband was instantly up out of his seat with his baseball hat flipped off his head trying to catch a ball. He's so cute!! By the way, we ran into my cousin on the Riverwalk while we were in San Antonio. How crazy is that?!? We can't even purposefully run into each other in the Metroplex, but go to another city and be there for about 30 minutes and BAM...there she is. Anyway, the pic below is from the Ranger's Game...which is why I look a sweaty Hot Mess!!

When I married Morgan, I gained an amazing family!!! I love everyone from his parents to his distant family. Brooke is one of Morgan's cousins. I feel like she's almost a little sister to me. Brooke has 3 brothers and is yet still very girly. But don't let her fool you, she drives a truck. ;) Well Brooke turned 21 recently so we went out to dinner and boot scootin' to celebrate. It was lots of fun!! This is Brooke...HOW CUTE IS SHE?!? LOVE HER!!!

One day I came home and we had 2 horses in our yard that had been moved from the barn. Then Morgan tells me one of them is pregnant. UGH!!! Really?!? I'm just going to be blunt-I was terrified to walk outside or look outside when I was home alone for fear of seeing a baby horse hanging out of its mother!!! I'm sure there was a better way/more polite way I could have said that, but those were my exact thoughts!! Yes, I realize I take care of mom's after they have babies...key word is AFTER!!!! Anyway, we don't have a name yet for the little guy. Actually, I heard that Davin wanted to name him Diego and Matt wanted to name him Burt...so when she has another one he can name that one Ernie. Who knows! So here is our new addition to our world...

This past Sunday we went over to Matt and Melissa's to cook out and swim. M&M some how got a new dog...the one on the right...

Well this little guy is like the energizer bunny when it comes to barking...just keeps going and going and going...every time someone jumped in the pool he would stand on the side of the pool and BARRRRRRRRKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!! He targeted Morgan the most. I guess he thought Morgan couldn't swim or was going to drown, or maybe he just liked his blue swim shorts, but he would jump in after Morgan and try and rescue him. This usually ended with him biting Morgan in the head. Thankfully, Morgan had not listened to me the numerous times that week when I told him he needed a haircut because he had plenty of "fluff" between his scalp and the dogs teeth!! The dog looked like Jaws coming after him. It was actually quite funny! Morgan also enjoyed the slide. Apparently no one informed him of the correct way to go down a slide. ;-)

Notice Davin having to hold the dog back from biting Morgan in this picture??? That dog is crazy. My mother in law said that Morgan must have looked like a Hot Dog coming down that slide. That's one pasty white Hot Dog, lol!! The only thing tan on that boy are his arms, neck, and face...typical farmer's tan. There's actually a third picture that goes with these but it involves a MOON...if you know what I mean. ;) So that's it for now! Hopefully you'll see me back here sooner than later. :)

Chicken Pepper Cannon Ball

2010-04-13T20:33:00.003-05:00

Recipe time!! Okay, so I don't really know the real name of this, but my dad said I should call it Pepper Cannon Ball (or something) and it has chicken in it...so there ya go! Now when I tell you what it is, you're going to turn your nose up and refuse to try it. BUT DON'T!! My friend at work, Janine, had the recipe and then Joanna had a good idea to add chicken to it. Well Lydia made it and I'll be honest, at first I refused to try it but Lydia made me try ONE BITE and that ONE BITE turned into MANY of bites!!!! Here it is...

2 Boxes of Cream Cheese (normal size boxes)
1 Package of Ranch Dressing Mix (for salad dressing, not dip)
1 small can or package of Tyson's chicken
Pepper

Pour chicken into a bowl and shred into fine pieces.
Add Cream Cheese and Dressing Mix.
Mix all the ingredients together.
Then make two separate balls (you could make 1 big ball but it would be HUGE).
Poor pepper onto a plate, preferably a plate that has a "lip" to help contain the pepper.
Roll balls in pepper until completely covered.
Let them chill in refrigerator, although you can eat them as soon as they are made.
BEST with Wheat Thins-Garden Valley Veggie. They come in a bag and not a box.

ENJOY!!!! I now make this for myself. Who needs a party to make this? I have a party for 1 and enjoy it!!!

Determined!!

2010-04-11T20:32:00.003-05:00

After feeling like Morgan has been my "roommate" more than my husband these past couple of weeks due to his work schedule, I was determined to have a fun filled weekend with him. I was tired of us not really doing anything together besides going out to dinner. We do that enough, I wanted to do something else together. I've been wanting to go the Bodies Exhibition down at the West End for a long time and I decided last night was the night. We drove down there late afternoon, walked around, and then went to eat dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was fun walking around downtown Dallas and I was thankful that I had driven down there numerous times to see my friend Stacey to know my way around. After dinner we walked back over to the West End area. There were tons of carriage rides every where. On our way to dinner one of the drivers had asked us if we wanted to ride and we politely declined his offer. He then told us, "Go get a few drinks in you and come back and see me." We laughed....and then did just that. Well Morgan did, I did not. So we made our way back over to the carriage ride area and Morgan offered me the opportunity to ride and I took him up on it. This is the picture of us on the carriage ride, taken by yours truly. ;)

I must say, if you ever get the opportunity to do this, DO IT!!! It was so nice to see the calmer side of Dallas. It didn't hurt that the weather was absolutely perfect last night for a carriage ride.

Today we went to Fort Worth to the Main Street Festivities. I used to go every year and haven't been since before meeting Morgan. Not sure why I love it so much considering I am not really an "Art-sy" type of person, but I love going. So we got up early and headed to Fort Worth with the Lillie Bear. We dropped her off at her "little slice of heaven on earth" and headed downtown. We got there around eleven. We decided to have lunch at Risky's out on the patio because let's face it, they double, if not triple, the prices on food at these kinds of events. I had my favorite...fried corn & some yummy brisket tacos!!! YUM!!!! We walked around and had fun people watching and dog watching because it seemed like everyone had their dogs down there. After that we headed to the Botanical Gardens because we had some time to kill before we went over to Brian & Christy's (my brother and sister in law's) house for dinner. The roses were so pretty and it wasn't too crowded.

After the gardens we went to have dinner with my parents, brother, and sister in law. I'd say my nephew too but he was in the other room playing video games so not sure that he really counts. :) My brother got all of the cooking gene!!!! Brian and Christy cook soooooo good!! Everything they make is delicious!! Let me back up, I CAN cook...I just don't LIKE to cook. It was nice to hang out with my parents, Brian and Christy!! The best part about the night was that I found out that my brother is going to do our kitchen counter tops...woohooo! So that's all for now! I have to go choose a counter top from the hundreds of samples Brian gave me. :)

So Sweet!

2010-04-06T20:31:00.002-05:00

Today I was in Fort Worth, for a few reasons, but one of them was to pick up Lillie Bear. She spent a couple of nights at her favorite place in the world...aka...grandmom's and grandad's house! My Dad took Lillie outside before we were going to leave to let her do her business since it's a semi-long drive home, especially in 5 o'clock traffic. My mom and I stayed in the kitchen and worked on destroying a pepper ball thingy with delicious crackers. When my Dad got home from work he said his head was hurting and that he just didn't feel well. THIS IS A MAN YOU WILL HARDLY EVER HEAR COMPLAIN!!! I realized it had been quite some time that they had been outside and it kind of worried me. Thought maybe something had happened to my Dad so I went to look outside and this is what I saw on the front step...

My Dad and Lillie sitting there together, she is in his lap. Oh my Gosh, cutest thing I have seen in a long time. I had to run to get my cell phone to take a picture. I didn't tell my Dad I took this picture. I changed his computer background so when he got on the computer tonight he would see it. It's such a sweet picture.

Disclaimer

2010-04-01T18:02:00.002-05:00

This is a little disclaimer concerning my blog. Plllllease people, do NOT over anaylze this or read to deep into anything I write on here. I want this to be a fun blog for everyone to read. The blog about Morgan and his "hearing" was in good humor, not anger. I know EVERY couple had "dirty laundry" and NO WAY would I ever "air" ours on a public blog. Not mad at anyone, just don't want it to get where every time I write something that's not all "happy happy joy joy" that I get emails about it. Just saying...

Deaf? Hard of Hearing? or Selective Hearing?

2010-03-22T16:10:00.004-05:00

At the risk of Morgan getting upset at me, I am going to blog about this. It amazes me how his hearing works, or doesn't work, sometimes. I will admit, our conversations involve him saying, "Huh?" and "What?" a lot. So much so that sometimes I just say, "Forget it!" I know it's not me because I can talk to my girl friends a million miles a minute and our conversations never involve HUH and WHAT unless the other person is amazed at what the person just said or wondering if what the person just said could really be true. Those two words are never used because we couldn't hear or understand each other.

EVERY morning when Morgan's alarm goes off I have to wake him up to turn it off. If I didn't do this the alarm would go off forever and he still wouldn't hear it. Then the other night at 3:50 am...so I guess that would be early morning...he wakes me up and tells me my phone has rung twice. So let me get this straight, Morgan can't hear his alarm on his phone going off in the SAME ROOM as us, but he can hear my cell phone ringing that's in the kitchen and our bedroom door is shut to the kitchen?!? Now it's my turn to say, "HUH? WHAT?!?" Crazy I say!! Crazy!!! So I drag myself out of bed to check my cell phone to only see an empty screen that says nothing about missed calls. So I check his work phone and he has two missed calls. (He keeps his work phone in the kitchen at nights.) Why Morgan thought it was MY phone and not HIS phone is beyond my comprehension. How does he not know the ring of his own cell phone?!? Needless to say, I was HIGHLY annoyed at 3:50 am!!!

So my question to Morgan is...are you deaf or do you have selective hearing when it comes to YOUR phone's alarm going off? And are you hard of hearing when it comes to having a conversation with me? All of this really does make me laugh!! He says it's because he's been around farm equipment all of his life so his hearing has gone down the drain. Try having a conversation with his dad...oh my goodness is all I am going to say about that!!! ;)

Blind Date, Oysters, and Such...

2010-02-27T19:20:00.006-06:00

I'm just in the mood to blog about something tonight and nothings really happened so you get this to read for you entertainment. I also realize as I type this that I don't want my friends to think that anytime they do something with me, they end up on my blog page, haha! I do PLENTY of stuff that doesn't end up here so no worries friends.

On to my story, I've come to realize that I really suck at setting people up on blind dates. Like MAJORLY suck at hooking people up. I'll just say this is only my second time and it failed just as miserably as my first attempt. Actually, I realize this was more of Morgan's doing and even though I was anti it, I went along anyway. One of my closest friends, Lydia, and her husband, Rob, have a really good friend that I have met on a couple of occasions named Henry (changing names to protect identity, lol). This friend of theirs was at their Super Bowl Party so Morgan got to meet him. Morgan had the idea of setting up a girl he works with named Leslie (changing names to protect identity, lol). Actually, she reminded me soooooo much of my REAL friend named Leslie it was like they were twins separated at birth. So this "Leslie" agreed to the blind date. "Henry" agreed to the blind date, too. Originally we were going to go eat at Pappadeux's and then go dancing. We were down off the Tollway earlier that week looking for another restaurant when we passed Pappadeux's and I thought Morgan was going to have a wreck he was so excited to see it. Never knew he liked Pappadeux's that much. Well Lydia and I were talking and I found out that she LOVES Pappadeux's too. ( I must say, Lydia and Morgan are so much a like it's crazy!! Maybe that's why they are two of my favorite people!!) Anyway, so the plan was set that we were going to Pappadeux's and then dancing. Well thank goodness Rob was equally as tired as I was and so we decided that we'd all just go eat and then come back to Rob and Lydia's house to play games. We played MadGab...which I must brag on myself and say I am AWESOME at!! Not sure that's a good thing and that my brain functions that fast in that way. We then switched to CatchPhrase which was tons of fun!! Are you still wondering how the date went? Disastrous!! Okay, maybe that's a little too strong of a word, but the second they met I knew it was a BUST!!!! We all still managed to have fun, mainly because you can't help but have fun when you're with Rob and Lydia. Anyway, so after that night, I REFUSE to set up anymore blind dates. Even though Morgan and I were the product of a little blind date-match making, I just can't be responsible for this anymore!! So here's a few pictures of the night. I realize that most who read my blog don't have a facebook...where I post most of my pics...so here they are for the rest of the world...

Morgan and I before we hit the town!! :)

Disgusting Oysters!!! Morgan ate a dozen of these all on his own. A few of us at the table had never had them. Well I was sitting next to Lydia so I was the first casualty to these AWFUL things. She fixed me one up, in the mouth it went, and then it almost met my napkin after that. I managed to get it down but I seriously thought I was going to vomit. I don't do textures well. After the others watched my reaction to this oyster, they all refused to try one...oops!! There were 8 of us that went and only 3 people ate 24 oysters...the thought of this makes me want to hurl right now.

My sweet friend Lydia!!! She's such a huge support to me!!

Sweet Rob and Lydia...now this is how you take a cute picture.

This is how NOT to take a cute picture, haha! Gotta Love that cowboy!!! He just doesn't know how to act when I get him out of the country and into the city. :) Totally kidding Morgan!! Glad to know you have a fun personality.

"Snow Day" through the Eyes of a Nurse

2010-02-18T12:58:00.011-06:00

So I am a little delayed in posting this. I've worked the last 5 out of 7 days so this is the first time I have had the time to sit down and blog about my lovely experience. It probably won't be as uplifting and happy as most, but I will try. Being a nurse really screws these days up for me sometimes. Seems like I get stuck having to work these days frequently. As I was eating lunch Thursday in the break room and watching the scroll on the bottom of the TV that was listing school/work closings, I said to one of my friends, "Wouldn't it be great to see our hospital's name on that list?!?" We had a good laugh about it knowing it will NEVER happen!! The week before this week of snow I was off for 7 days. Could it snow then? No!! Then I am off this Thursday and Friday, the week after the snow. Could it snow then? No!! It had to snow crazy on the two days I had to work. :( This bums me out for several reasons. During the time I just thought it was one reason, that being that I had to spend the night at the hospital. Seriously have no clue how these ladies can sleep on these beds for 4 nights. That's how long our c/s patients can stay and most do. There were about 18 of us that spent the night at work on Thursday so we wouldn't have to drive in on Friday. Those on my floor decided that it must be easy for our patients to tolerate those beds when you're receiving Percocet & Percodan every 3 hours. We decided if we were going to have to stay on those beds, we should get access to those lovely meds too. HaHa! NO, WE DIDN'T for anyone thinking we did!!! I had several people offer me a place to stay Thursday night that live close to work. I didn't take any of them up on it because they kept saying "ice" in the morning. I told Lydia next time I am spending the night with her and that better always be an open invitation!!! :) With that said, I am thankful to work where there is an option to spend the night and not risk the treacherous drive in. While I was bummed that I was missing all of the snow back at home, that next morning was absolutely beautiful. I was able to get a "bird's eye view" of the surrounding area around the hospital. I work on the 4th floor. If you know or have seen where I work, you know it's in a rich city and surrounded by beautiful homes. I think I looked out the window around 0730 that Friday morning. It felt like Christmas morning to me as a kid. It was absolutely breath taking to look down on all of the trees and beautiful homes and see all of that snow blanketing everything. It was so peaceful because there was not a car in sight since it was so early in the morning. It was like I was getting a sneak peek at everything before the rest of the city woke up. As far as you could see it was white. I also worked Thursday and seeing all of the snow falling down and beginning to coat everything was also pretty. The drive into work Thursday morning was "fun." I had never seen that much snow fall at one time!!! It was so heavy it was hard to see where I was going. I can't even describe it. If you were driving to work around 0600 then you know what I am talking about. So Beautiful!!!

Friday was a long day for us nurses. We were a little sleep deprived. It's hard sleeping on the floor your work on and then getting up, walking out of your room, and back to work you go. Our hospital was kind enough to give us a meal voucher for spending the night. I went down to the cafeteria to get breakfast. The grill guy (I should really learn his name because he always says, 'Hi, Laura' and is so nice!!) asked me how my drive to work was. I told him I spent the night so I didn't have to experience any driving. Well I had ordered pancakes and he was sweet enough to turn them into Mickey Mouse pancakes to make me smile. I really do work with some fantabulous people from the kitchen, to house keeping, to nurses, to our boss, etc. Anyway, by the time 1900 rolled around I was beyond ready to go home. I slept like a baby that night! Had never been so happy to see our king size bed and body pillows.

So I was praying that there would still be snow Saturday morning at home so I could get a glimpse of what it looked like at home. Morgan took some pictures on Thursday afternoon and Friday but they are on his iPhone so I don't know how to upload them. Everything had snow...trees, driveway, his truck, etc. It was so pretty. I must say, I was pretty bummed after looking at every one's pics on Facebook of them and their families in the snow. Would have loved to have had the opportunity to build a snowman with Morgan and even engage in a snowball fight...I am sure I would've won!! Oh well!! These pics are taken on Saturday, two days after the snow had fallen.

This is my artistic work, lol!! For some reason I thought it would be a grand idea to walk out there in cotton shorts, t-shirt, and a robe to take pics. Guess I was still tired from working and the lack of sleep I had which lead me to make such a poor decision. Otherwise, I would've put more energy into making this look a little nicer. ;)

This picture was taken off of our back porch.

So pretty! You can see Charlie, our horse, and our neighbor's pond in the background.

Our driveway...I know y'all were just dying to see what it looked like. HAHA!!

Morgan and Me in the snow. We really need to teach Lillie to be our photographer so we can get a decent picture of the two of us in cases like this. ;)

I was a little cold!!

He was really thrilled I was making him stand out there for this picture!!

Benefits of living in the country...tons of farm land covered in beautiful snow.

You also see this a lot...hay bails being driven down the road.

So that was my lovely experience. What a gift from God that snow was!!! Maybe we won't have to wait another 30 years to see that beautiful snow again!! And HOPEFULLY I won't have to work those days next time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dog & Cat Diaries

2010-02-02T20:34:00.005-06:00

This makes me laugh!! I've seen it so many times and it still makes me laugh out loud so I decided to put it on here. It reminds me so much of Lillie and my cat Bianca that lives with my parents. Bianca is a Siamese cat. She's not full blooded so she's still sweet...most of the time. Lillie and Bianca are really cute together because they have the same markings.

EXCERPTS FROM A DOG'S DAILY DIARY...

8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 pm - Lunch! My favorite thing!
1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 pm - Milk Bones! My favorite thing!
7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

EXCERPTS FROM A CAT'S DAILY DIARY...

Day 983 of my captivity...

My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets.

Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength.

The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet.

Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a 'good little hunter' I am. Bastards.

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of 'allergies.' I must learn what this means and how to use it to my advantage.

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow -- but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded.

The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicating with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe. For now ....

Meet Maks...

2010-01-20T12:27:00.010-06:00

Last night Morgan and I went over to the in laws. I thought we were just running over there real quick to drop off some jeans for Matt and some pictures I had printed for Melissa. We walk in and Melissa is like, "Come see what's in here." She opens the door to her room (M&M are living with the in laws since they just bought a new house and are remodeling some of it) and what do I see?!? A little baby goat laying on a blanket. NEVER was expecting to see that!! He was the cutest little thing but could hardly raise his head because he was so weak. M&M have goats and recently the goats had 8 babies, Maks was born yesterday. Three had already died and Matt found Maks stiff. (That's what I have named him after Maksim from Dancing with the Stars. Even though Matt said I shouldn't name him until we know he makes it. But I say give him a name so he WILL make it!!) Maks was probably "seeing the light" until Melissa came and got him and took him home. They wanted me to try and put a tube down his throat to his stomach since I used to have to do this to the NICU babies, but the tube they had was HUGE and I refused!! So Matt and I fed little Maks together. Matt held his mouth open and helped him suck while I tried to hold the bottle in his little bitty mouth. Maks is supposed to eat like a baby, every 2-3 hours.

So today after I got done with my workout with Lydia, I had a message from my father in law asking if I could go feed Maks. Maks wouldn't eat for my mother in law prior to her leaving for work so he was wondering if I could get him to eat. I was hesitant, but went over there to see what I could do. After all, I am a city girl now living in the country!!! But I guess after working with babies for almost 10 years, I could try. As I was walking in I was praying he wouldn't be dead. This is what I saw...

Maks all curled up sleeping. So sweet. So I picked him up and felt his little heart beating, thank goodness!!

I then took this picture to send to Lydia because she wanted to see how cute he was. Take notice of how much milk is in the bottle sitting on the table. This is before Maks ate. I'm pretty sure he's giving me the same look that Morgan gives me when I want to take pictures of him.

At first Maks didn't really want anything to do with the bottle. I was thinking, oh great, I'm going to have to do what Matt and I had to do last night BY MYSELF!! Once I opened his mouth and stuck the bottle in, he went to town. He sucked so good and was so eager to eat!! He ate an 1 1/2 ounces. :) :) :)

Now notice the bottle on the table, he drank a lot for his little bitty self.

After I held Maks for a little bit and petted him & talked to him...like he's a puppy or something...I put him back in his bed. He was standing and even moving around a little. WAY more than he was doing last night.

So I hope little Maks makes it!!! If not, I will be one sad little lady. :( I just got home from feeding him again. I fed him at 3pm another 1 1/2 ounces. Then we snuggled in the chair. Matt started laughing when he walked in and saw me. I couldn't help it. Having his little head on my chest all snuggled up to me was irresistible. Although, it kind of makes me worried about how I will be as a mother. I went over at noon, didn't let GiGi out. GiGi is M&M's dog. I was too focused on making sure I was doing everything right for Maks. Then I went over there at 3pm and it took me a while to finally remember that GiGi probably has needs too and to let her out. So I snuggled Maks up with me and we took GiGi outside. Poor GiGi peed FOREVER!!! But hey, at least I EVENTUALLY remembered, right?!? HAHA!

Haiti

2010-01-19T21:43:00.005-06:00

I've been wanting to write something since this happened but never knew what to say until today. I've been wanting to encourage all of you to donate money to Haiti. I have always felt like we are so blessed to live in this country to be born under the "red white & blue" and when something like this happens, it just emphasizes that even more for me. We are so blessed to be in this country, so much so that I think we don't even have a smidgen of a clue how really blessed we are...which is a whole other topic. The picture above is one of my best friend's, Holli. She went on a mission trip with our church to Haiti. (It's been quite sometime.) I remember we were all worried about her going because of her blond hair and blue eyes. Thankfully, under the protective wings of Angels, she made it back safely. This was a picture taken while she was there with one of the orphanage kids.

I heard a story today that really touched me and finally pushed me to write something about Haiti and the importance of all of us donating. As I was on my way to work out I heard a story on 102.9, I believe. Now typically I ONLY listen to music but something made me stop and listen to this story. Some of you may have heard it. It's a story about a news crew that is in Haiti covering this disaster. They were outside of a bank. The bank used to be five stories high and was reduced to maybe 3 feet off the ground. Just a mound of rubble. While everyone was digging through the rubble, most likely looking for money, there was a man standing off to the side just watching. The news crew asked the man why he was just standing there, not saying a word or doing anything. He had been standing in that spot for FIVE DAYS. He said that his wife worked in that bank and he knew she was in there when the earthquake happened. He said he was going to stand there until she was either pulled out alive, or dead. (Talk about love and devotion!!!) Well they didn't have the man crew to do any kind of serious digging. Then a group of fire fighters from Los Angeles came walking down the street who had adequate equipment to assist. They told the fire fighters the situation and they started digging. After digging for a little bit they heard a female voice. The man who had been standing on the side for five days went running over to where they were. It was his wife!!! She was alive!!!! They pulled her out and the only thing was wrong was her hand. It had gotten smashed in the collapse of the building. After five days of no food or water, she was alive and nothing serious was wrong. Praise God!!! The man got his wife and they drove off together.

I just think that's a miraculous story. We need to donate to not only support the people in Haiti, but the volunteers that are taking the time, being away from their own family, to go aid the Haiti people. You can donate by texting "Haiti" to 90999. This will donate $10. You can also go to www.redcross.org and donate. I also believe this Friday there will be a telethon by celebrities that will be taking donations. I know some might say, "I just don't have the money." But these people really have NOTHING!! They really didn't even have much before this and what they did have is now destroyed. God has richly blessed us in so many ways! I think we need to give to the Haiti people, regardless of how small the amount. I wish I could just get on a plane and fly over there and help them, but I can't . So this is the least I could do.

Redeeming Love

2010-01-14T18:51:00.003-06:00

I have another book for everyone to read. This book above is so good!!! Several girls at work were reading it, going on about how good it was and how they couldn't put it down. It's written by a christian author so I thought I would give it a try. I'll be honest, it's not the type of book I would typically read so at first it took a while for me to get into it and the amount of pages overwhelmed me. I had to FORCE myself to read this book. But then a few chapters into it I couldn't put it down. I flew through this book. I read it faster than most 200 page books. Every free waking moment I had, I spent soaking in this book. I couldn't get enough of it!! Now that I am done reading it, I have tried going back to the type of books I used to read...and i am so bored with them. Francine Rivers has other books out that I will have to read soon. So if you know me and would like to borrow this book, just let me know. One of my friends currently has it so when she's done, anyone can read it. I also bought this book for my mom for Christmas and can't wait to hear what she thinks of it.

Birthday!

2010-01-11T15:05:00.002-06:00

Morgan turned 32. Surprisingly, he did not rub it in my face how I am 6 months and 6 days older than him. :) We had a good day, kept it low key. We went to lunch with the family. My parents came up so I was really happy for that. I made his lovely cake...that he never ate. The boy and sweets are not friends. So after listing every kind of cake I could come up with and him saying he wouldn't eat it, I decided to make my favorite kind. Yellow with chocolate icing, yum! I made it from scratch, took me hours and hours...okay, so maybe I had a little help from a gal we'll call "Betty." haha! Happy Birthday, Morgan! Love You Bunches!!!!

Surprises!!

2010-01-07T15:56:00.003-06:00

If you tell me a secret, I will keep it. If I have a surprise for you, you can bet I won't tell you...if it's truly a surprise. But PLEASE don't tell me you have a "surprise" for me and then make me wait for it. Don't get me wrong, I love surprises, but only when it's actually happening and I am truly surprised. Also, when it comes to gifts I am HORRIBLE!! I was, am, and will always be a "snooper!!" I'm not ashamed of it and my family knows this. Once I snooped through my parents closet, since that's where I knew they stored our Christmas gifts, found a sweater that I loved. Well I was going to a Nursing/End of Semester party and wanted to wear it. Christmas was only a few days away so it wasn't really THAT big of a deal. HeHe!! Well I wore it to the party. I don't even drink beer, but one of my friends accidentally spilt beer on it. OOPS!! So I came home that night, tried to clean it, and the next morning snuck it back in my parents closet without them ever knowing. That is, until my big mouth ex-fiance started cracking up when I opened it at Christmas and he spilled the beans. Thankfully, my parents have a good sense of humor and didn't get mad at me.

Then this year Morgan told me he was going Christmas shopping for me, but that he was taking my gifts over to his parents to wrap them. So in my mind, they aren't in our house. Out of sight, out of mind. So I am ironing some scrubs for the next day at work in our middle bedroom. Well this is also the same room that we were keeping our Christmas gifts since we didn't have a tree up this year and our living room looks like a storage space. Morgan walks in and says to me, "Don't look in those bags. Your Christmas gifts are in there!!" What?!? Really? Why on EARTH would he tell me this!! I was thinking they were at the in laws but nope, they are 2 feet away from me...in a bag...where I can EASILY snoop!! If he would've never mentioned anything, I would have never noticed them. His last words to me before walking out of the house were, "Now don't go snooping!!!!!" Ummm, have you met your wife? Do you know her at all? Apparently he doesn't!! As soon as I heard his truck pull away, I immediately went to snooping and found out what 90% of my gifts were right away. I know! I know!!! This is HORRIBLE!!!! But I have never unwrapped a gift and re wrapped it like my husband has done. Yeah, totally just threw him under the bus!! So Christmas Eve we open gifts and I knew all of them, so I thought. He had actually hid my perfume where I couldn't find it. :) Should I be admitting to all of this? Probably not. So if you ever have a surprise or gift for me, please don't tell me unless you are giving it to me RIGHT THEN!!! Otherwise, I just might drive you crazy trying to figure it out. I am known to do this by asking a million questions, shaking the gifts, and you better bet if it's in a bag...I will be SNOOPING!!!!

Super Cute Chicks...Now Super Big Chicks!!

2010-01-05T21:29:00.008-06:00

Side Note: If you want to see what these chickens looked like at a couple of days old, scroll on down a little further.

Tonight after dinner I said to Morgan, "Let's go look at those chickens. I haven't seen them in a while and would like to see how big they are." So we drove over to the in laws clueless to what we were walking into. Davin, our nephew, is showing these chickens this coming Friday so my brother in law, Matt, and sister in law, Melissa, were washing these big 'ole chickens!! Good grief they got big FAST!! Take a look...

Davin and Melissa both did some washing. These poor chickens did not enjoy it one bit, but then again I wouldn't either if I was them.

This picture cracks me up. Nothing like a wet chicken. This is kind of the "behind the scenes" of raising chickens. Absolutely NO CLUE this much effort went into raising them and getting them ready to show. Poor thang!! He's looking at me like, "Really? This is my life?!? Sitting on a dryer while some woman is holding me down while another is blowing me with a hair dryer? This so CAN'T be normal!!"

Are you wondering how many Airhart men it takes to weigh a chicken? Apparently three, haha! This isn't the most accurate way to do it, but their scale froze up so they used mine. Love how Matt is holding this chicken directly over my father in law so if it pooped, it was going right on him! Should've seen the little evil grin Matt was giving me. ;) And why is the man who can't hardly see reading the scale?!?

Even GiGi loves the chickens. Almost too much I do believe because I did see her licking her lips quite often.

So that was our night. Always something new to learn out here and NEVER, and I mean NEVER, a dull moment at this house!! I can't help but wonder if that's going to be Morgan and me in 13 years when our child is old enough to raise chickens. If so, I will just have to recruit Matt and Melissa to help me out in this area of raising our child because I am on the clueless side when it comes to farm animals.

The Embarrassing Truth!!!

2010-01-04T20:26:00.008-06:00

Once upon a time there was a girl who lived by herself, lived 5 minutes from the gym and worked out at least 3-4 times a week, came home from work and ate either cereal or a sandwich. This girl RARELY had any alcohol and really didn't eat out very much. Meet this girl...

Then this girl above fell madly in love with a Cowboy, moved to the country where the gym was a 20 minute drive one way, started eating fast food and going out to dinner where an occasional alcoholic beverage was involved, and apparently lost her tan and became pasty white which makes her look WAY worse!! Meet this girl...

SIGH!!! Yes, this is completely embarrassing and I am humiliating myself, but this is what I need to do. I need all of y'all to hold me accountable and to help me stay on track. The picture above was taken just the other night. This is the heaviest I have EVER weighed!!! BLAH!!! So we will consider this the "before" picture. My friend, Lydia, who is in this picture with me is getting back in shape with me. The other day we came up with a reward system for when we lose weight at 5 pound increments. I am so excited!!! I also talked her into signing back up for our gym we used to go to. We are going to do some classes together because I think that's where we can really lose some weight because the classes kind of work all areas of the body. We are starting tomorrow at 0830. Now all that know me know that I typically don't get up until 0900 on my day off, but I am desperate to lose weight so we are meeting for a class. I am excited and scared!! I'm praying I don't pass out since it has been awhile since I have exercised. I hope some day soon we will have a great "after" picture of our slimmer selves!!

December!!

2009-12-30T17:52:00.022-06:00

I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAA-AAAAAACKKKKK!!! HaHa! Haven't posted in a while. Our computer bit the dust...I procrastinated on taking it to Best Buy because I HATE doing things like that...then he tells me it's going to cost a minimum of $200 to "maybe" fix it...so then we FINALLY bought us a new computer that I love!!! So this will be one "lump" of activities blog.

So Christmas just past. I like Christmas but this year it kind of annoyed me. I think the idea of everyone running around frantically to buy gifts is quite ridiculous and ANNOYING!!! I feel like the actual meaning of CHRISTmas gets looked over more and more each year. Don't get me wrong, I feel like children should receive gifts, but the way some people act is down right obnoxious!!! No, my family is NOT like this!! I think I start getting annoyed before Thanksgiving when it seems like everyone is just ready to "get through" Thanksgiving so we can rush right into Black Friday and Christmas. Can we please give Thanks FIRST because after all, we do have so much to be thankful for!!!

Morgan and I didn't decorate this year. Morgan has been working on one of our other bedrooms so all of that furniture is out in the living room. I was kind of bummed at first at the thought of not putting a Christmas Tree up, but then I quickly got over it. I love the idea of a Christmas Tree, but HATE the idea of putting it up...opening all those limbs is a whippin'!! Plus, we had nothing to take down either now that it's all over. YAY! But, I am sure we will decorate next year. I wasn't ever really in the "Christmas Spirit" this year and I am pretty sure that had to do with the absence of our tree. :(

This pic below explains pretty much how I have felt this whole year...apparently the year of 2009...calories didn't count. HAHA! BUT, I renewed my gym membership and will be "up in the gym just workin' on my fitness," to quote Fergie (she's a singer to all those who don't know.)

I got to see my sweet cousin, Theresa, and her husband! I loooooove her so much. Pop, I put this pic in for you!! :) LOVE you POP!!

We went dancing this month with two of my friends. We had so much fun!! Here's Morgan and I before we went. This was actually the picture we used on our Christmas Card since this was the only decent picture I could come up with on such short notice. No, Morgan's not winking at the camera. No, he's NOT drunk!! These were people's responses (mainly family) when they saw this pic. My camera has a double flash and that first flash gets his eyes practically every time. sigh!!

This picture cracks me up! This was the first of the night so the answer would be NO, we were not drunk...just goofy!!

Morgan did awesome at riding the bull...as well as Lydia.

I, on the other hand, look a little terrified!! I wasn't, but this pic is funny to me. And why am I not holding on with my LEFT hand? I'm left handed!! That just goes to show that when I watch Bull Riding with Morgan they all have their left hands in the air, so that's what I did naturally. Oh, the life of a left handed girl. I probably would've lasted a little longer if I was holding on with my stronger hand.

Leigh Taylor (LT) and Me! No clue what we are laughing at!

Lydia and I ALWAYS have fun together!!

Then we had a WHITE CHRISTMAS!! This pic isn't very good but it's the only one I have on my computer. His aunt got a really cute one of us in the snow. I was thankful Christmas Eve that my in laws only live 2 minutes down the road since country roads always seem to be worse than city roads.

Yesterday Lydia and I went to see IT'S COMPLICATED! Let me back up....can I just say that yesterday was one of the most perfect days in my life!! It was so simple, yet so perfect!!! I went to Fort Worth to get my hair done...trimmed and colored. Nothing spectacular. But those hair days I love because you feel so refreshed. Then I met Lydia at 4pm to see IT'S COMPLICATED. When we got there it was snowing sooooooo much!! I can't remember seeing that much snow fall at one time in my life!! It was BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!! Then we met up with some of our other friends for dinner. The roads weren't bad at all and it was white EVERY WHERE!! Then I came home to my sweet husband. It was just one of those days I wish I could do again and again and again!! Anyway....here's a picture of Lydia and Me...

In this picture below I am sandwiched between two of my favorite people in this whole wide world!!! LOVE these girls whole hearted!! Lydia, Me, & Jill

It's weird for me to think back about how 2 years ago I didn't even know these girls existed. Now they are some of my favorite people! It's amazing how God works. It's amazing to look back on that day when we (pedi nurses in Arlington) got the news that our unit was closing. I was so upset!! But now I work at this fantastic hospital with these girls and I couldn't be happier. Thank you God for taking such great care of me and placing me right where I am!!!

I stole Courtney's cute hat for the picture below. It looked super cute on her, a little "gangsterish" on me!! HAHA!!

Well that's it folks! I'm sure a lot more happened, but can't remember right this second. Hopefully the next time I post pics I will not look quite so "healthy!!" hehe!! All in all, I am so thankful for so much in my life!! 2009 was a GREAT year and I can't wait to see what 2010 brings for us!!! Hope you all have a safe New Year's Eve!!!

Have you seen this face before?

2009-11-25T15:42:00.004-06:00

Can I just say, I would be a rich woman if I had $1 for EVERY TIME someone says to me, "How do I know you?" or "Are you 'so and so's' cousin?" or "Did you ever work at ___?" or I get this one a lot when a family member says to another, "Doesn't she remind you so much of ..." It's crazy how often people think I am someone else. I would say at work it happens at least once a week, sometimes more. Like yesterday at work, I walked into one of my patient's room and she said, "Do I know you? I know you from some where!" So I started the usual list I give everyone that always says this to me and nope, we have no connection. I must say though, when I walked in her room yesterday morning, I actually thought SHE looked familiar to me, but didn't say anything. The other day I was at Old Navy and the salesman kept looking at me. A little too much that it was creepy. Finally he asked, "Are you Samantha's sister?" Nope, I am not. Don't even know a Samantha. I just think it's kind of funny. I'd love to see all of these people that others tend to think I either am, look like, or remind them of. Guess I just have one of those faces!!

Super Cute Chicks

2009-11-19T17:23:00.003-06:00

Aren't these just the cutest little fur balls you have ever seen? My sister in law and nephew, along with some other kids, are raising these little chickens for a school project. Morgan and I went over there last night and they are so entertaining. We could have watched them all night. There are 25 of them. My sister in law picked one up for me to hold and it was so sweet. Matt told me to watch one of the ones that was in the center sitting under the light. It was rocking back in forth. Matt said this is what they do when they are falling asleep. Well the little fur ball got to rocking so much that it fell over forward and rolled. It was HILARIOUS!!! Anyway, just another new experience for me living out here in the country. :)

3 Things You Should Know...

2009-11-12T21:05:00.007-06:00

Do you love chocolate? Do you love Godiva chocolate? Well it's your lucky day!!! All you have to do is stop by a Godiva store, become part of their email list, and you will receive a free chocolate truffle of your choice once a month. I have always loved the Strawberry Cheesecake Truffle. I was on a girls shopping trip this past summer and one of our friends opened our eyes to this new found knowledge of free chocolate. So now every month I make a little stop into Godiva for my free truffle...and usually that free one turns into me buying another truffle. I can't resist. They are so yummy!!!

Are you single? Are you trying to attract men? Or are you a man looking for that perfect gift for the woman in your life? I suggest you buy Viva La Juicy perfume. My cousin, Brooke, had this perfume on last year at a little game night we had. I fell in love with it. I immediately went out the next day to buy me some and had difficulty finding it due to it being new...and popular. I finally found this perfume and have been wearing it ever since. This is the first perfume that I have used all of it and today I went out shopping to buy some more. The sales lady in the perfume section was new, it was her second day on the job. So she had never smelled this perfume before. I sprayed some on my arm and she asked if she could smell it. It was hilarious!! She kept grabbing my arm and smelling me over and over. She then later apologized at the register and she said she was going to have to buy some herself. I always get compliments on this perfume from family, friends, my patients to complete strangers. So thanks, Brooke!!! xoxoxo

Do you have a heavy foot? Do you like to go "a little" over the speed limit? Well if you are like me, the answer is "Yes!" My mom told me a little story about something she had heard. Rebecca on 96.3 was late to work one morning. The officer pulled her over and thankfully she had remembered what someone had told her. If you turn the dome light on in your car and put your hands on the steering wheel (this applies to night time) you are showing the officer that you are not a threat and most likely you will not get a ticket. Well, this worked for me last night...with a state trooper!!! Not sure if he felt bad for me when I told him that I was about to buy a new windshield (explaining why one of my stickers was not on my window, but was in the glove box) and spared me the extra cost of a ticket. Or, if he was happy that I performed this little act. Who knows!!! But I suggest you do it, the officer will appreciate it and hopefully you won't get a ticket!!!!

Wedding Dresses for a Greater Cause!!!!

2009-11-12T17:16:00.003-06:00

A few weeks ago I was required by work to go to a class that talks about the death of a baby. It was to educate us on how to assist couples who are dealing with the loss of their infants. I was dreading going to this class. I really didn't see the reason why we (as in post partum) had to go because we don't get these types of patients on our floor. It would be really cruel to send them to a post partum floor where they would see mothers pushing their infants in the hall or hear a baby crying as it is wheeled past her door. These patients typically stay in L&D or go to the antipartum floor. But, just in case we ever do get these patients for whatever reason, we were required to go.

One thing that was discussed in this class was www.marymadelineproject.org. I'm going to quote the website, "It is very difficult to shop for a baby burial garment when a baby dies. For premature babies, it is often difficult to find something small enough. The baby burial gowns and blankets are given to Neonatal Intensive Care Units for babies who die in the neonatal period. They are also given to labor and delivery units for stillbirths." What they do is collect wedding dresses and then make little garments for these precious babies. We each got to see first hand these BEAUTIFUL dresses made from wedding gowns for these precious little infants. I believe they make little tops for the boys as well. I didn't even know something like this existed. What a gift to the parents in their time of great sorrow to see that their little angel from above is dressed in such a beautiful piece of clothing. I was in awe that someone thought to do this for these babies and for their parents.

Our hospital is working on having a "dress" drive for this project. I really want to donate my wedding dress. I don't ever plan on wearing it again. To be honest, I am not that sentimental of a person so why do I need to hang on to it when it can go to a greater cause?!? I haven't even seen my dress since the day I got married. I believe it's still at my parents house. I looooved my wedding dress!! It was my favorite thing about our wedding. I can just see it being used for something greater and what beautiful little dresses it will make for some sweet babies. I hope you understand, Mom. I know you will. :) If anyone is interested in donating a wedding dress, please let me know.

Signs

2009-11-07T20:38:00.005-06:00

Let me start by saying that I am NOT under the influence of anything. I have only had mango passion fruit tea for dinner. By the time you read this blog, you might think differently.

Tonight Morgan and I were going to eat at The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. When we pulled into the parking lot we parked closer to PF Chang's and could tell that The Cheesecake Factory was kind of busy, even though it was only 5:40 pm. We haven't been to PF Chang's in a while and I know how much Morgan loves that place so I asked him if he'd rather go there instead. He said, "Yes." I was kind of sad because I was looking forward to a Chicken Salad Sandwich from The Cheesecake Factory, but I know that we seem to always go where I want to eat so I didn't say anything. When we were seated at dinner there wasn't hardly anyone sitting around us. We preferred a booth, but they were full so we settled in at a table. I believe if we had been seated at a booth, the night would have been different. Sitting at a table you're surrounded by a lot more people, hence the reason why we prefer a booth. As we were eating the restaurant got busier. It quickly seemed to be that we were sitting in the "kids section." We were surrounded by families and their kids. I didn't say anything. I guess I was thinking to myself, "If I don't acknowledge this situation out loud, then it doesn't really exist." Morgan and I had a nice dinner, talking about our first date, what made me know that he was the one, etc. Then he said, "Notice all the kids and families surrounding us? Maybe it's a sign." He then winked at me. Morgan NEVER notices anything like this. Dang it, he said it. He acknowledged it which meant it was real. My response was, "Yes, I noticed. I feel like God is torturing me. Like He's saying 'Look at all these wonderful kids, but you can't have any.' " Yes, as soon as I said it I knew I didn't mean it and I know God isn't like that. Morgan didn't really have much to say to my response. He was probably shocked I would say something like that...as I was kind of surprised at myself, too. Not long after that it was time to open our fortune cookies. Inside I was feeling sad as I was looking at all of the sweet kids seated around us. I said, "What's the point. They don't come true anyway." (You must know, I am not typically negative like this. Just one of those nights.) Morgan opens his fortune cookie first and as he was taking it out of the plastic he said, "Watch it be something about kids." I kind of laughed and said, "That would be funny!" This was his fortune cookie...

It said, "Children." He showed it to me and I ripped it from his hand in disbelief...that's why it's torn. I busted out laughing!!! So much so that those sitting around us turned to look at me. My eyes instantly began to water. Not sure if they were tears of joy, frustration, anger, or amusement. I was laughing so hard!!! I believe that God talks to us if we only listen. I believe that he shows us "signs" throughout our life that He is there for us and is listening to our prayers. I decided in the end to take this fortune as a sign from God that we will some day be one of those couples out to eat surrounded by our little munchkins. I know some of y'all might think I am crazy, but its what gets me through this crazy thing called LIFE!!!

Now onto our sweet Layla Bayla...

I had several people respond to my blog about Layla's new bed that they were worried about it getting wet when it rained since our porch isn't covered. We have been bringing it in when the weather was bad and it always made me feel bad to do this to her. We would have to make Layla get out of her bed and bring it inside. I couldn't do it, I made Morgan do it. So a couple of weeks ago I was on a mission to buy Layla something we could put the bed in to keep it covered. We went to Pets Mart and everything was well over $100. I love her, but I wasn't going to pay that much. Then on the way home Morgan had an idea to try out Tractor Supply. This is what we ended up with...

Do you realize what this is? It's a cat litter box. HAHA! It's the only thing we could find. Poor thing, she has no idea that her bed is what every other cat considers as a "poop box." It works for her. Once again, Morgan said, "She won't get in it." WRONG BUDDY! She got in it and sleeps in it every night. Then I bought this baby girl blanket for her. I wanted something for her to wrap up in when she's in there. Morgan said, "You baby that cat!" Yep, I sure do!!!

While we were at Pets Mart the SPCA had some animals there to buy. Big mistake for me to go look at them. HUGE!!! If it wasn't for Morgan supervising me, I would have walked away with this little playmate for Lillie Bear...

She's soooooo sweet! All the other dogs were barking and she was standing there so sweet. She had been turned in 3 days earlier by her owner because they had too many dogs. As we were walking through Pets Mart I was begging Morgan to get her. I sent this picture to my friend Lydia because she has been looking for puppy dogs for her son. She told me to tell Morgan, "Tell him that you will be saving a life. You are a life saver!!!!" Morgan wasn't falling for it. He said if we didn't have this little puppy dog...

that has quite a few medical bills, we could get her. That dang Lillie Bear!!!! :) Oh well...

Meet Our Children

2009-11-07T11:27:00.005-06:00

There is a website called http://www.makemebabies.com/ You upload your pictures and it will tell you what your children will look like. No, I don't really think this is what our kiddos will look like, but it was fun to play with. So meet our children...

The picture below is of our sweet Garrett Dyer. Isn't he so cute? Honestly though, I would never stick our child in a bunny suit. This reminds me of one of my favorite movies A Christmas Story where the oldest boy had to try on the bunny suit that someone made for him. Yes, if we have a boy, Garrett is what we will name him. Garrett is after my dad "Gary" and Dyer is Morgan's middle name. We've kind of been told that if we have a boy that will be his middle name. Thankfully, I like it. :)

Now it's time to meet our girl, Natalie. Isn't she so cute? Poor thing, she's kind of got the big forehead going on like her mama. haha!! For the loooongest time I have LOVED the name Natalie and have always said that if I had a girl I would name her Natalie Elisabeth. Well....Morgan walks into my life and guess what, one of his ex-girlfriend's name is Natalie. BOOO!!!!!!!!!! So I thought I would name our fictional baby Natalie since I can't do it in real life. :( I love how dark her hair is & how she almost looks Hispanic. Apparently when I was a baby and still in the hospital, I looked so much like a Hispanic baby that they almost gave me to the wrong mother...oops!!

So that's our two children. Hopefully sooner than later we will get to meet them. In all honestly, I think our lives will be full of chasing little boys all over the place. But oh how I would love to have a little girl to play dress up with, put her in dresses, while Morgan is putting her on a John Deere tractor. I also have a weird feeling that we will have some red heads. When Morgan's got a beard growing out and the sun hits it, you can see red. How cute would a red headed baby be? VERY CUTE!!!

Thankful!!!

2009-10-26T15:18:00.006-05:00

I'm not really sure how to begin this blog because my thoughts are kind of a mess. So this should make for some interesting reading for all of you. :)

It seems like every time I think I am okay with the whole "not being pregnant" thing, something slaps me in the face. For instance, I came home the other night to Morgan telling me that two of our friends are now pregnant. One of them wasn't trying (I don't think.) Earlier that day at work, we found out that one of our OB doctors (she used to be my OB) is pregnant with her third. So in one day I found out that THREE people I know are pregnant. Really? God, seriously. I understand that you might be "testing me" or trying to pull me back closer to You or maybe it's just not our "timing" yet. After all, God DOES know what He's doing!! But how much can one girl handle in a day? Apparently a lot, because amazingly I didn't break down into tears when Morgan told me about two of our friends being pregnant. There are mornings (mainly those mornings when my alarm goes off at 0445) that I am thankful to only have to be responsible for ME! Because sometimes just ME seems more than I can handle because I am NOT a morning person. Although I know it will be different when I have my own precious little sweet pea to take care of. I'm sure I will be desperately yearning to crawl back into bed, but I know a little person relies on me and that means more than anything.

Today I accidentally stumbled upon my friend's sister in law's blog page. Made me a little sad. Why? Because she's pregnant. I read all of her blog and I don't even know her. It was basically about her pregnancy because she started her blog when she found out she was pregnant. Although I am really happy for her, my heart was sad because I would give anything to be blogging about my own experience with my belly growing. I know some day that day will come and it will be the perfect timing!! Not "Laura's" timing, but God's timing.

I found a song on her page that I liked so I had added it to my blog page. As I was scrolling down my page, literally watching my life past before my eyes, I was seeing all of the pictures and posts I have posted a little over a year now. WOW! I started that scroll feeling a little sad, but ended with a thought of "I am so thankful for my life!" I have so many friends and family that love me and I love them. I have a roof over my head, a car that gets me from point A to point B and I never have to worry about it, I have the most supportive husband a girl could ask for, wonderful parents, amazing in laws that keep me laughing, friends to turn to when I feel sad or need to share something funny, a wonderful job, and the list could go on and on and on!!

Deep down I wonder if I am ready to have a baby RIGHT NOW! Why? This is how I know. As desperately as I want a child in my life, I have been dreaming (weekly, almost daily) of our trip to Mexico that never happened due to drug wars and swine flu. We were going to stay at the Excellence Riviera Cancun. It's rated the #1 resort in its area. It's BEAUTIFUL!! Has amazing reviews. I find myself almost every other day stumbling upon the website http://www.tripadvisor.com/ to check out the latest pictures people have posted of the resort. My friend from work, Michelle, is actually there RIGHT NOW as I type away...dreaming of this resort. Earlier this year Michelle was talking about how she was getting married in Mexico. Something was telling me, "DON'T ASK HER! DON'T ASK HER! DON'T ASK HER!" But I did..."Michelle, which resort are you getting married at?" Her response, "Excellence Riviera Cancun." My heart sank because that's where Morgan & I were supposed to go!!! Now she's there RIGHT NOW! Probably sitting on the beach soaking in the rays with a drink in her hand. :) Sounds so nice!! Truly, I am VERY happy for her! She's there for TWO weeks...LUCKY GIRL!! Every time I hear the song, "I've got my toes in the water, a$$ in the sand, not a worry in the world a cold beer (margarita for Laura) in my hand, life is good today...life is good today." I cant' help but imagine Morgan and myself there!!! If we are not pregnant by our 2nd year anniversary, this is where we will be to celebrate! I'm soooo excited!!! A HUGE part of me wants to take one more vacation like this before we have our own little ones. Because once they are here, it most likely won't happen for a MIGHTY long time!!!!!! But if next month I took 10 pregnancy tests (because I know myself, I would not trust the first handful) that all say pregnant...I would be equally (let's be honest, MORE) excited!! We will see...

Hope you are all enjoying this rainy Monday! I made my dad's famous chocolate chip cookies and consumed a little more cookie dough at one time then one human being should!!! :)

State Fair of Texas

2009-10-16T18:19:00.007-05:00

A little side note, I did not take these pics. For some reason, this girl that LOVES taking pictures, did not take her camera!!! Gurrrrr...

Howdy Folks!!! Today Morgan and I went to the State Fair of Texas. Morgan gets us free tickets and parking pass through his work so we always go. We get to park right up front and bam, we're in the state fair. :) It's so nice to go for free and save so much money!!! We got there around 1030. It was PERFECT!! Hardly a crowd. I could hold my arms out and spin down the walk way and not hit a single soul. (No, I did not do that. Just saying...)That's how much walking room we had. Not how it was when we were leaving, but we were there for 5 hours so it was getting crowded when we left. The weather was so nice. We could not have requested a more perfect day. Not a cloud in the sky and it was cool outside earlier in the day. One of my favorite days...where I was in a short sleeve t-shirt and 100% comfortable and Morgan was in a light jacket and 100% comfortable. My "menu" list before we went was FRIED BUTTER, CORN DOG, AND FUNNEL CAKE. Corn Dog and Funnel Cakes are a MUST for me. But then when we got there I realized that I am not actually a big fan of corn dogs. So why do I eat them EVERY YEAR?!? I guess because it's the "thing to do" at the state fair. So I skipped that this year. We headed straight for the fried butter. There wasn't hardly a line. When we were leaving, there were two looooooong crazy lines!! Phew! Glad we missed those. Anyway, Morgan wouldn't walk up to the counter with me because there was a television station filming. He said he didn't want to be on TV. I didn't really care. I just wanted to try some fried butter. It was sooooooooooo good!!! Can't even explain it. I had imagined in my head a piece of a stick of butter dipped in grease. But it wasn't like that at all. It was doughy (if that's even a word) and the butter was melted and hot and just dripped down your chin. It was as you would say, "finger lickin' good!!" As far as the funnel cake goes, I didn't get one this year. Not sure what was wrong with me because I ALWAYS get one. Wherever I go, if there is a funnel cake on the menu you better bet I am ordering one. But I didn't. I opted for COTTON CANDY!!!! Love Cotton Candy!!!

My other favorite thing and a "must do" at the state fair is to walk through the two car buildings. I love looking at all the cars. Sitting in all the cars I have admired from afar but was never able to see the insides. That all changes at the state fair. I sat in all the cars that I love. The cars I will never be able to afford. Sometimes realizing after sitting in them that I would never be happy with those cars anyway. Also at the state fair a "must do" for us is to go visit our friends at the "dip & soup" stand. Not really a professional name, but I don't know the real name. No, they aren't really our "friends" but we always buy from them. He told us today they also go to Canton. They have the BEST dips. They have pretzels out and everyone walks around with pretzels in their hands, dipping them in all the different dips. Sounds gross I'm sure, but it's actually very "sanitary." Trust me, if I can do it, ANYONE can do it!! I'm the biggest germ freak there is. The dips are easy to make. They give you the main "fixins" and then you just add sour cream and mayonnaise. They are always a hit at the parties I take them to.

It was also really neat to see the UT & OU 18 wheeler trucks all painted according to the university parked right next to the Cotton Bowl. Did you notice which team I mentioned first? Yes, I am a big UT fan. I've gone to a game down in Austin and it was a blast. Anyway, everyone was walking around with their UT & OU shirts on. Made me wish I wore mine. Then over by the stadium there was a greyhound bus with UT players loading up and leaving. We were all standing there watching and as they drove off everyone was holding up their UT fingers. It was neat to see the support. With all of that said, we are SO THANKFUL we will not be there tomorrow. We (more like "I" b/c Morgan is working) will be watching the game from the comfort of our home. It's the BEST game of the year...as far as college football goes. On the way home we saw tons of cars south bound on 75 with their OU flags hanging on the windows. Boo! HaHa!

My MOST FAVORITE THING to visit at the state fair is.................

I think I will always be a 10 year old at heart. I love, love, love the rides!! I can't get enough. I'm about to sound like my grandparents when I say, "I remember back in the day when these rides only cost 4-6 tickets." Now they cost TEN!!! Yikes!! That means each ride is 5 bucks, but so worth it...well, most of them. There is one ride that I could ride 50 times in a row if I was rich. It's called the XTREME. I ride it EVERY YEAR!! I rode it twice this year. This year I made Morgan ride it with me because we rode it pretty early in the day so not many people were there yet and I was going to be the only one riding it. The best way to explain it is, while it spends round and round, it swings you really high in the air at the same time. The last ride I rode...without Morgan...I absolutely HATED!! I was praying the entire time, no joke, that God would let me live to see another day. I was on the end and I kept feeling that while it was flipping me way high in the air and turning me upside down, that I was about to fly out the side. I was griping those handle bars so tight that when I got off I could hardly move my fingers. I don't think I have prayed that hard in a LONG time. I don't ever get scared on rides but something about that one freaked me out a little bit...more like a lot!

They also had a really cool train exhibit. They had a new Amtrak train and a few older trains (1910's & 30's) that you could walk through. It was really neat to see how they have advanced over the years. It was cool to see how the sleeping arrangements used to be back in the day. These trains are so MASSIVE in person! They almost don't look real. I guess b/c I am used to seeing toy trains and not the real deal. After walking through this exhibit, Morgan is now inspired for us to go on a train ride some where. He said, "Canada." No clue why he chose Canada. I said, "New York City," because in NY you don't need a car.

So, that was our experience at the Sate Fair. It was such a perfect day and while I was standing there in line waiting for my favorite ride, I couldn't help but give thanks to God for such a beautiful day and for us being able to be there and pretend we are kids again!!! If only for a moment in time. :)

WAIT!!!! I almost forgot to show y'all my little souvenir...

Can you see it? It's a little leather bracelet with our names on it. Childish? Absolutely! But a girl at work got one with her and her husband's name on it and I thought it was so cute. So while we were there, I was secretly keeping my eyes open for the man that was doing this. Lucky me, unlucky Morgan, I found him! haha! Morgan didn't seem to amused that I wanted one of these bracelets, but I bought it anyway. Since he was kind of being a little stinker about me buying it, I told him that I was going to get LLLC initialized on it to represent "Laura, Layla, Lillie, and Charlie." Charlie is our horse. :) But I didn't. I got "Laura & Morgan." And yes, I am going to wear this bracelet!!!

Just Call Me...

2009-10-09T20:27:00.007-05:00

Martha! Martha Stewart that is!! HaHa! Totally Kidding. But really, here lately I have become borderline obsessed with decorating. We have lived in this house for over a year and just recently I decided to do a little decorating. I mean, don't get me wrong, I have decorations going on in this house, but some things were incomplete. The summer of '08 I decided that it would be a good idea to only decorate 4/5 shelves of our amazing entertainment center that my brother in law made us. I've talked about it in another blog, but Matt built this beautiful entertainment center around a "not so pretty" fireplace. I just can't even explain what a difference it made in this house. Anyway, so I have only decorated 4/5 shelves. Not sure why, possibly because I could never reach the top shelf and I hoped it was too high up there for people's eyes to travel that far up. :) One day I had enough! I was off to Hobby Lobby. This is when a mild addiction to Hobby Lobby began. It's ridiculous. This is my new favorite store!! It has replaced Target. I love how practically everything in the store is always 50% off...or do they mark it up so they can say they are offering a 50% discount? Who knows! Either way, I am addicted. Then a few weeks later, that would be yesterday, I decided that the top shelf above our kitchen cabinets was screaming at me to decorate it. Or maybe I just needed a good excuse to go to Hobby Lobby? So off I went, spent way too much money, and this was one of those days I was thankful that I paid the bills and balanced the check book and not Morgan. I don't like the "grown up" look when it comes to decorating. As I was decorating last night I was wondering if I will ever out grow the stage I am in and have always been in. The stage of "nick knack" decor. Probably not. I love it too much!!! So here are some pics. Trust me, the decor is much more stunning in person...hehe!

This is my kitchen decor, obviously. Wonder what gave it away, could it be the dishes? Anyway, what a difference it has made to our kitchen!!! We added a beautiful "Love" picture to the right that you can't see. It's above the doorway to the living room. We also added three other picture/decor things to the left wall above the stove and refrigerator. I feel like I have a brand new kitchen.

Here's our entertainment center with the top shelf FINALLY decorated. I've had all the other shelves decorated, just not the top shelf and what a difference it made. I was trying to find the signs of "Faith, Hope, Love" that matched but I couldn't. I usually just found two and not three. So I decided to mix it up and do all different style signs and I loved it even more. The cross on the right has "Faith, Hope, & Love" on it so it was perfect. I was so happy to find it because it matched my theme. :)

Another picture just in case one wasn't enough for ya. HAHA!! Sorry, I am feeling a little sarcastic tonight.

I decided to make this a "Random" Blog. Why not? It's my blog. :) This is one of our pics on our entertainment center. It's a pic of a pic, hence the quality. I love these girls!! That was the BEST day of my life so far.

Here's a picture of the boys! They are so handsome. What a beautiful day that was!! Not a cloud in the sky.

My parents came up here to see us and pick up Lillie...thank goodness. We love that little puppy dog so much but my goodness, she has been barking at EVERYTHING lately!! She goes to doggy day care at my in laws when Morgan and I both work and GiGi (my "niece" dog) is living there now for a while. Wondering if she's picking this up for GiGi. Although, I really don't hear GiGi bark that much either. Anyway, it's annoying. So when my dad said that he wanted to get Lillie we didn't decline his offer. So when they got here, Lillie instantly found her place on Grandad's lap...aka...her favorite place to be with her favorite person on earth!! She had to sit on his lap to make sure he didn't go anywhere without her knowing.

Alright, that's all I have for tonight! If you are still reading this blog post, I am amazed! Thank You!!

Balloons for Chase

2009-10-08T16:25:00.011-05:00

This past Saturday was the Balloon Release for Chase. They asked as many of us that could to release balloons in Chase's honor. His sisters, Kendyll, Carlie, and Abby Kate are making a keep sake book to remember Chase. So we are all sending our pictures of our balloon releases. Due to my working schedule, I was unable to get my balloons for this past Saturday. So I decided that I would do it today. Since it's supposed to rain later today, I decided to do this by myself since Morgan gets off work later. I chose six balloons for Chase and his family. One to represent each of them. Before I released Chase's balloons, I said a prayer for Chase and his family that they may all feel the love of God and continue to be surrounded by support as they start the healing process. It was a little windy today and I started wondering why I had decided to release them today, but then I decided the wind would carry them faster to Chase. :) So here are my pictures, please continue to keep this family in your prayers.

These are the cards for Chase to read when the balloons reach him. One of my oldest friends, Holli, who also knows Chelsea asked me to send a note and balloon to Chase with ours. It's amazing how many lives this sweet little boy has touched!! My friend Brittani, who is also longing for her own little miracle from above, decided that when she released her balloons, that Chase would be the perfect angel to deliver a message to our Heavenly Father. That whenever He is ready, we are ready for our own blessing from above.

Since I was doing this by myself, I decided to take pictures of the balloons with the cards attached before I headed outside.

I hope Chase loves his personalized Cards. :)

Balloons for Chase.

Here come your balloons Chase!! :)

Chase, you will be missed here on earth more than you will ever know! But we know you are up in Heaven with our Heavenly Father smiling down and watching over your parents and three sisters who love you dearly.

Chelsea & Mark,

There are not enough words to express the sorrow I feel in my heart for your family. I know because of God and your faith in God, your family has shown amazing strength and are encouragements to everyone who has been touched by this tragic situation. I pray that as your family starts the healing process, you will continue to feel the love and support from not only God, but all those that love you down here on earth. One day I know your family will be reunited with Chase and what an amazing day that will be!!! My favorite Bible verse is, "For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11 I hope, pray, and have faith that God will take this tragic situation and turn it around for the good. Something tells me in my heart, that Chelsea and Mark, the two of you some day will be able to help others who have experienced the loss of an infant. Chelsea, you were always an amazing friend and a wonderful support to me. I know some day, God will use you to be a blessing to others during their times of needs. Until then, may God wrap you and your family in his loving arms. Love to your family!! You will forever be in my prayers.

Recipe for a Happy Marriage

2009-10-04T12:02:00.004-05:00

Back before Morgan and I got married, we were blessed to have several wedding showers. I have grown up in a church since I was 5 years old so these lovely ladies know me well. The ladies throwing the shower decided to send out two recipe cards with the shower invites. Isn't that just a fantastic idea? I thought so. There were a lot of ladies there and I got a lot of great recipes that the ladies put in a Recipe Book for me. So today I sent my mom an email telling her that I want her Taco Soup recipe. I know it's really easy. Basically you are just throwing a bunch of ingredients into a pot, but I still need to know what ingredients to throw in. She tells me to look in my Recipe Book that the ladies from church put together for me because she's pretty sure she put the recipe in there. So I open my Recipe Book. The first recipe I see is the BEST recipe!!! Do you want to know what it is? Of course you do!!! :) Here is the first recipe I saw...

RECIPE FOR A HAPPY MARRIAGE

2 heaping portions of love
2 large portions each of kindness and understanding

Stir In: Generous amounts of consideration and thoughtfulness over the years.

Baste Often With: Tenderness and affection to make the mixture sweet.

Should mixture start to boil and angry bubbles appear, turn off heat at once; add more love and understanding and continue cooking.

Ice with happiness. Makes enough to last a lifetime.

Isn't this the best recipe you've ever seen? I love it. I received it from my friend, Holli's, mother. Some day when I get motivated enough, I want to type it out, frame it, and hang it in our kitchen. Hmmm, mom, if you would love to type this up for me, I would greatly appreciate it since I don't have a printer. *wink* *wink*

Hope you're having a blessed, rainy Sunday everyone!!!

Chase

2009-10-03T21:15:00.002-05:00

I know some of y'all have read the story of sweet Chase on Cassie's blog. I encourage you to now go back to Cassie's blog and read her latest post about their balloon release. I didn't expect to cry, but as soon as I saw Chelsea, I busted out into tears. What a beautiful start to this day to release balloons for Chase. Followed by rain, kind of appropriate if you ask me. This is an amazing family! Please continue to keep them in your prayers.

God Is Good!!!

2009-10-02T18:11:00.003-05:00

A friend I grew up with going to church was pregnant with her baby boy. Her name is Chelsea and the baby's name is Chase. It is a heart breaking story. She lost him last Sunday at 34 weeks and delivered him this past Wednesday. Her and her husband already have three beautiful girls and were really excited for this sweet baby boy. It is a devastating loss. Fortunately, they have an amazing relationship with our Heavenly Father. The amazing strength they have shown is beyond words. They are the best examples of how to deal with a tragic loss and still proclaim that God is Good. God is Good, but sometimes during these losses people tend to forget that. Since some of you that read my blog know Chelsea but might not know this story, please go to Cassie's blog. On the right side of my page is a link to Cassie's blog. Cassie is Chelsea's sister...Chelsea is the oldest of 4 sisters. Cassie has blogged over the past week about this situation. I want to share it with everyone because hopefully some day it will help you. It has already helped me. They also need continue prayers while they start the healing process. Even though you might not know them personally, please pray for this sweet, sweet family.

Layla-Bayla

2009-09-20T10:40:00.008-05:00

Friday morning when I was leaving for work, the last thing I saw before walking out the door was Lillie all snuggled in her bed. The first thing I saw when walking outside was Layla sitting on two pieces of wood on our back porch. Here lately that's where she's been sleeping. The sight of Layla sitting on two pieces of wood made my heart sad. I have the biggest heart for animals and there is no way I could be a vet. Anyway, so yesterday was Lillie's birthday. Lillie decided that instead of her getting a gift (we gave her two treats yesterday instead of one, haha!) she wanted Layla to get a little bed. Wasn't that so sweet of Lillie? :) So Morgan and I went to Pets Mart to find Layla a little bed. All the while Morgan is saying to me, "she's a 'barn cat' she doesn't need a bed." I didn't listen, I just kept on shopping for a new bed for Layla. We get home and I put it on the back porch and sit her in it, where she then bolts from it. I did it again, she bolted again. Lillie, however, had not problem getting in it and checking it out for herself. Morgan told me that she needed to sniff it and that she's a "barn cat" and probably won't lay in it. I was sad. If she only knew how soft it was, she'd stay in it forever!! We left her alone and went inside. So about an hour later I peeked out the window and what did I see? Layla-Bayla laying in her little bed. Morgan didn't believe me. He thought I was just making it up. He had to get up and look for himself. Then, what did I see this morning? Layla still laying in her bed. She LOVES it. I turned to Morgan this morning and said, "Now aren't you glad that I bought a little bed for our 'barn cat'!" :) Here's a picture of her in it...please ignore the wood and screws on our back porch. We are in the process of hanging a new screen door.

She was in the process of "pawing" it so that's why she looks funny. When she lays in it, it fits her perfectly. Now I can sleep a little better at night knowing our sweet Layla-Bayla is sleeping more comfy!! She might be the most spoiled "barn cat" in Collin County.

♥ Lillie Bear ♥

2009-09-16T11:35:00.005-05:00

I did this for Morgan so I had to do one for Lille Bear, too!! :) Other then the fact that she has more pharmacy drugs prescribed to her than I do...ugh!!! She's worth it. Also, I think I am hugging Lillie Bear a little bit tighter today since Jessica Simpson's dog was taken by a coyote. Laugh if you want, but our little puppy dogs are like our babies to us that haven't had our own sweet peas yet.

Ten Reasons Why Lille Bear is the best dog ever...

1. The way she puts her paw on my leg when she's sitting next to me.

2. The way she lays her head on my arm like I am her pillow.

3. She's always happy to see me.

4. She is the best little puppy dog in a bath. Mainly because she knows she's getting a treat afterwards. :)

5. She is always "ready to go." Poor thang spent most of her first couple years "on the go," so that's all she knows. She gets bored if she's at one place too long.

6. She loooooves her Grandad!!!! He is her favorite person. Although we joke that he went to the truck the day I got her because he didn't agree with me getting her. Now they are best buds and Grandad misses her when she's not around.

7. She's a smart little dog, knows phrases, commands, and tricks.

8. She makes me laugh. When she's doing something bad and I say no, she gives me this look and then does it again. It makes me laugh, but she does get time out for it.

9. She's never has "accidents" in the house. Double :)

10.When Lillie and Morgan are sitting on the couch together, it's the sweetest thing ever.

M♥rgan!!

2009-09-16T11:18:00.002-05:00

It's time to give "props" to my sweet Cowboy who makes me smile every day, even the days I am mad at him...which are few and far between.

Ten Reasons Why I Love Morgan Dyer...

1. I know that man loves me with all of his heart. There's an unconditional love there that I have only seen from my immediate family.

2. He would do anything in the world for me no matter what time of the day it is.

3. When he isn't feeling good or something is wrong, the gentle way he responds to my question of, "Are you okay?"

4. He is always making up goofy songs about me and the country that make me laugh so hard.

5. He can only tolerate my singing for so long before he tells me it's "quiet time."

6. He helps around the house without me even having to ask...takes trash out, helps put dishes away, helps do the laundry and fold clothes.

7. He makes me feel so "girly."

8. I could gain a 100 pounds and he would still act like I have only gained 1 pound.

9. The way he looks after Lillie. He talks to me like Lillie is "in the way," but he looks after her and takes such good care of her!!

10.When I see him with Davin or other children or holding babies, I know some day he will make a GREAT daddy to our children.

Love you Morgan! Thank you for being the great husband that you are!! Muah!!!!

Mud Boots & Rainy Days

2009-09-13T11:24:00.004-05:00

Let me start with telling you that Morgan is sitting right next to me laughing at me that I am blogging about this. I told him, "Everyone else blogs about random stuff, why can't I?" So here it goes...

So as we all know, it has been "rainy days" these past few days. I know many are getting sick of it, my husband included, but I LOVE it!!! I love it for several reasons, getting to take naps and not feel guilty about it, staying in all day and doing nothing and not feeling guilty about it, cuddling up under the covers and watching a movie, etc. but most of all I love it because it means I get Morgan all to myself because it's too wet to do hay and luckily this was his weekend NOT to work!! WOOHOO!

So yesterday morning I drug myself out of bed. Yes, it sucked because getting up at 0445 on any Saturday morning when you know everyone else is sleeping in doesn't tend to make me "smile." It's even worse when it's a rainy Saturday morning. Thankfully, I got off work around noon. Our nephew, Davin, was supposed to have a football game the other night but it got rained out and moved to Saturday afternoon. So Morgan waited for me to get home and we went a little late...which I didn't complain too much about because it was rainy. So we pull up to the football field where there is NO parking!! We had to park right up next to the school buses where it was sooooooooooooo muddy!!!! Thank goodness Morgan has a 4x4 truck or I am pretty sure we would STILL be sitting there today. It was a big ole muddy mess. As we were walking up to the game, walking through huge mud holes and me only wearing tennis shoes I say to Morgan, "Remember ALL of those times I wanted to buy me some Mud Boots but you said, 'You don't need those! You will never wear them,' and I put them back on the shelf, THANKS BUDDY!" He started laughing. I, however, was not laughing as I was stomping through the mud!! Let me rewind, Morgan and I sometimes go to Tractor Supply for random things and they have always had these really cute mud boots. On several occasions I have wanted to buy me some and Morgan would never let me. Not that he wouldn't, but when he said I didn't need them, I thought maybe he was right so I would put them back. Then one day at Target they had some really cute green mud boots and once again I wanted to buy them, but Morgan said I didn't need them. So as I am stomping through the mud and get to the stands where the rest of our family is sitting, what do I see? MY SISTER IN LAW WITH HER REALLY CUTE, PINK-STRIPED, MUD BOOTS ON!!!! Gurrrr....so after the game we went straight to Tractor Supply to buy me some Mud Boots. I really wanted the solid pink boots but they had some funky strap on them so these are the Mud Boots I decided to buy...FINALLY...

I love my new navy blue Mud Boots!!! Then while we were walking around I saw these gloves that I just had to have...

There is no way Morgan could say "No" to these because after all, they are John Deere!! :)

After we got home we cuddled all afternoon, I took a two hour nap which really worried Morgan because I NEVER take a 2 hour nap. Then we went to dinner, came home and watched BABY MAMA! Let's say Morgan watched it. I fell asleep half way through despite Morgan trying to keep me awake by shaking me and yelling at me, "Stay Awake!" I guess he finally gave up because I crashed! He won't tell me how the movie ended. He says I have to watch it for myself since I fell asleep on him. LOL!

So while all of you are hating these rainy days, I am LOVING it because I finally get more "Morgan" time and I finally got my Mud Boots!!!

October!!!

2009-09-10T11:21:00.005-05:00

Okay, I can't stand it anymore...I have been trying to wait until the first of October to blog about my favorite month and how excited I am that it has finally made its arrival again, but I can't wait. I absolutely LOVE October for so many reasons. Sometimes I wish it could be October all year long, but then I would never fully appreciate a month that was here to stay forever. Just the wonderful colors of October make me fall in love with this month. So as we are approaching October, fully enjoy all it has to offer...

~Pumpkins
~Halloween
~Hay Rides
~Cooler Weather
~Carving Pumpkins
~Cute Kids in Halloween Costumes
~Color of the Sky
~Cowboy Games
~"Friday Night Lights"
~Cuddling under Blankets
~Smell of a Fire Place
~Brilliant Colors of the Leaves
(Yellow, Red, Orange, Brown)
~Driving through Fallen Leaves
~Wearing short sleeves or long sleeves
and being equally Comfortable
~Rainy Days
~Opening Blinds and it not
Heating up the House
~Scare Crows
~Bags & Bags of Candy
~Haunted Houses

I'm sure all of you can think of many more reasons to enjoy this month so whatever they are, enjoy it! After all, we only have this month for 31 days a year!!

Forty-One

2009-09-06T16:49:00.007-05:00

The number 41 might mean different things to different people today. For instance, someone might be turning 41 today, another person might have 41 days left until vacation, another person might have 41 days until their loved one returns home. But, 41 today represents the number of years my parents have been married. :) I had to email my dad and ask him the number of years and he replied with, "41 short years." I just thought that was so sweet. He then told me that I would be 71 by the time Morgan and I have been married 41 years. That just seems like forever away for me. My parents, to me, represent everything a loving, happy, Christian marriage should be. Don't get me wrong, I know they have had their not so good days, especially with raising me and my brother. I remember one day my parents were having an argument (please mom and dad don't get upset for me telling this to the world...) and they weren't raising their voices or anything, but I could tell something was not right between them. I am guessing I was around 8 years old. I was so scared and afraid they were going to get a divorce. I was asking my mom if they were getting a divorce and she said, "No, we will NEVER get a divorce!" I still remember that to this day. I think that situation taught me you can have arguments, disagreements, fights with your spouse, but that doesn't mean either of you are walking away. My parents still have that happy marriage that you rarely see these days. When my dad comes home from work or before he leaves, he walks over and kisses my mom either "hello" or "good-bye." They are the best example I could ever have on how to live 41 happy years with Morgan. Thank you mom and dad for being such a strong couple and always being there for Brian and Me. Since Morgan and I got engaged on y'alls anniversary...even though Morgan had no clue that he was dropping down on one knee on y'alls anniversary...we have nothing but hope we will make it to 41 years together!!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY...41 YEARS AND COUNTING...STILL GOING STRONG!! LOVE YOU BOTH WITH ALL OF MY HEART!!

Butterflies & Bumble Bees

2009-09-02T21:40:00.005-05:00

Today I worked and over all it was a great day. I was fortunate enough to have really great patients and patients that made my job easy and enjoyable. One of my co-workers had it a little bit different. Can't really go into detail but our secretary noticed that this nurse was a little stressed...which I would've been to if I had to deal with what she was dealing with...and told us that anytime we are stressed or need to count to 10 we should take a deep breath and as we are doing it say "butterflies in" and then exhale and say "bumble bees out." I thought that was so cute. Just that visual of that is calming and makes me smile. The best part was that our manager was standing there listening to this conversation and had this nurse do it with her and was doing the hand motions that go with taking a deep breath and saying, "butterflies in" and exhaling "bumble bees out." It was so funny! It might not have actually de-stressed this nurse, but it sure gave her a good laugh! So the next time you are stressed or need to count to 10 because you might feel like killing someone think of this...

Inhale and say, "BUTTERFLIES IN..."

Exhale and say, "Bumble Bees Out!!"

New!! Car!! Very!! Excited!!

2009-08-27T18:54:00.003-05:00

Let me preface this with saying I am not bragging. I am just super excited and want to share my good news with the people I love...

For a while now I have been contemplating buying a car. As much as I love my Toyota 4 Runner, the gas mileage is not so great. I knew SUVs were known for having bad gas mileage but when I bought it, I bought it because I my Passat had gotten into some high water, messed up the engine, and so I was frustrated and wanted a vehicle higher off the ground. Well now I am tired of filling up my gas tank all the time and paying so much money for gas. Yes, we do plan on having children so when I went shopping for a new car that was one of my questions...can a car seat fit in the backseat easily without moving the seats up.

So yesterday I drove down to Fort Worth to pick up Lillie Bear. She's been in "dog heaven" with my parents for the past couple of weeks and it was time for her to come home. I got down there really early so I decided to go look at all the car lots off of 820/30. For a while now I have seen the Honda Accords and have just loved them. When I first saw one I thought it was a BMW. I couldn't believe it was a Honda Accord. So I stopped in and immediately told the guy I wasn't going to buy a car but that I wanted to see if a Honda Accord was even the size of car I would like to drive. I was honestly wanting to just sit in the car so I could be like, "Yep, that's what I thought, this car is too small." Then I would be finished day dreaming about it and just go on with my life. WELL...I sat in the car (front, back, all 4 spots) and this car is extremely roomy!!! Then I was thinking, "Well, the trunk is probably small so that will be a deal breaker." The salesman, David, opened the trunk and WOW...I swear it has the same amount of space as my 4 Runner. So, heck! What was my argument now for NOT buying this car? I didn't have one. On top of that, it gets 30mpg highway compared to my 21mpg highway on my 4 Runner. It also has a 6 disc CD player...woohoo!!! The thing it has the most that I absolutely love...A SUNROOF!!! Most of my cars have always had one but when I bought my 4 Runner I thought I wouldn't miss it. Boy was I wrong. All my friends cars that I get into they all have sunroofs and I open every one of them!!! :)

Now came time to see if I could even afford this car. I told David that he shouldn't even bother running numbers because I obviously still owe on my 4 Runner and payments would be too much. He said, "well if you have great credit, let's just run the numbers, it won't hurt and see where we are at." I had no hopes at all of getting this car so I was just chilling out waiting to see what they would say. Well what do you know, my payments would actually be $30 cheaper a month. So then I said, "Well, my husband has to say it's okay and he is against me getting a car." They insisted that I drive it home (way far away from the dealership) and have him drive it and see how he likes it. So as I am driving off in this nice car that I am falling in love with by the second I call Morgan and tell him what's going on expecting for him to get mad. He didn't!!! He comes home, test drives it, I educate him on how it's going to save us tons of money in gas, the safety issues, etc. and he says, "Sweetie, if you want this car you can have it!" I almost fell over. Never expected him to say that because he has always told me, "YOU WILL NEVER DRIVE A CAR!!!"

So last night I went to bed and prayed about it. I prayed that I would have a clear view on if I should buy this car or not. Before I went to bed I read about 50 reviews of this car and 99% were great!! I couldn't go to sleep so about 0130 I finally got up and made a list of all my questions for David about the car. I then was able to fall asleep...

So today when I took the car back I was still undecided. I wanted to drive my 4 Runner again because I wasn't used to driving so low in the Honda. I got back in my 4 Runner and felt so weird. I felt like I was mammoth woman and I realized then I was much more comfy in the Honda and it was much smoother. So Honda Accord was my decision and David answered all of my questions! This entire process went so smooth and so quick!!

I know by this point you are thinking your evening will not be complete unless you see my new car...especially since you just read this looong, boring story of how I came to drive my new car so here are two pictures...

The front of the car...obviously, ha...they put the visor on the sunroof for free today after I sweet talked them into doing it. hehe!!

Here's the side view...highly recommend this car if anyone is thinking of buying one!!!! Of course, I have only owned it for a total of 4 hours now. But I am sure my opinion will still be the same in a couple of years from now!! Oh, and it's black on black. About everyone that sees it has a first reaction of, "wow, it's pretty." Then the second reaction, "Black? With Lillie?" Yes I say!! Let's just say I will be living with a lint roller brush in my car from here on out!

So all in all, I am so thankful that God has blessed Morgan and myself with this new car and he gave me the clear vision that yes, this was the car for me compared to my 4 Runner!!

Random Thoughts of the Day

2009-08-18T17:11:00.004-05:00

My friend posted this on facebook today and I was crying from laughing so hard so I thought I would share it with all of you. Sadly, I relate/agree with some of these...ENJOY!!

I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?

Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.

Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no Internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

There is a great need for sarcasm font.

Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the f was going on when I first saw it.I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone is laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.

The other night I hit a new low at an open bar. I had already hopped on highway blackout when, inevitably I had to find a bathroom. Eventually I decided it was probably on the other side of the bar so I tried to walk over there, but ran into a guy coming the other way. We played that, Both go left, Both go right game to no avail, so I finally put out my hand to guide myself past and that's is when I realized, yup, that's a mirror I just tried to walk through. And the guy on the other side is me. Even cats can recognize their own image.

How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.

Was learning cursive really necessary?

Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say"

Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

I love the sense of camaraderie when a n entire line of cars teams up to prevent a dick from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)..ummm...Goonies"

What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?

While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever

.I would like to officially coin the phrase 'catching the swine flu' to be used as a way to make fun of a friend for hooking up with an overweight woman. Example: "Dave caught the swine flu last night."

Bad decisions make good stories.

Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?

If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....

You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.

There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

"Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.

I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'

While watching the Olympics, I find myself cheering equally for China and USA . No, I am not of Chinese descent, but I am fairly certain that when Chinese athletes don't win, they are executed.

I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damnit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

When I meet a new girl, I'm terrified of mentioning something she hasn't already told me but that I have learned from some light Internet stalking.

I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles...

As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.

I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

I think that if, years down the road when I'm trying to have a kid, I find out that I'm sterile, most of my disappointment will stem from the fact that I was not aware of my condition in college.

Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.

Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, hitting the G-spot, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet my ass everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time...

My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that?

It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.

I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimate d that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There's nothing like being made to feel like a fat bastard before dinner.

BABIES!!!!!

2009-08-17T12:05:00.003-05:00

My two friends that I have known the looongest in my life delivered their baby boys a day apart back in July! WOW! This would be Holli and Stacey. Stacey was in our wedding and Holli was my Matron of Honor. Originally Stacey was scheduled to deliver the same day as Holli, but they moved her up a day earlier. How cool would that have been if they delivered on the same day?!? Anyway, sweet Stacey delivered where I work and thank God (literally), I was there that day!!! Now I must say, most of the time my job becomes a repetitive thing...get up, go to work, help moms recover and teach them about "baby" things, etc. I would never say it's boring. We are so busy and it's fun! It's just usually the same thing, to a point because after all, every patient is different. But when Stacey was there that day it was so exciting. We have a monitor up stairs on our floor (L&D is right below us) and we can watch the women progress. Now I will be honest, in the year and a half I have worked there, I barely even glanced at the monitor. With Stacey there delivering, I couldn't take my eyes off of it and towards the end all of us nurses were gathered around it like we were watching a movie or something. It was so neat to see when she was pushing!! I felt like I was down stairs with her, even though I wasn't. I went to lunch with Stacey and Cole last week and I snapped this picture of them. Aren't they precious? I think so!!!

Then the next day, I went to see Holli and Wyatt. I didn't get a picture of Wyatt. I guess because I was too busy holding him. :) He's such a sweet boy!! I did get a picture of Tatum. She's such a sweet girl. She was our flower girl and did a PERFECT job!! Tatum is such a great big sister! She has her own baby doll that she feeds and has Holli help change her diaper. It's the sweetest thing. I asked Tatum if her baby doll had a name and she said, "No." I told her she should name it "Laura." HaHa!! We were sitting on the couch together and she just turned her head to look at me and gave me this sweet little smile. She was probably really thinking, "Yeah, right!" :) Then later this girl name, Isabella, came on TV so I told her she could name the baby doll, "Isabella." Actually, Tatum will probably continue to call her baby doll, "Him, " even though it's a girl. I just LOVE kids!!!! Anyway, so here's a picture of Tatum...the sweetest little girl on earth!

Blessings!

Craft Craze Day ~ September!

Back to School Party~Mommy Style!

Craft Craze Day!

Moving to Texas!

Nannie's 85!!!

Co-Workers

Sunglasses...

What??? What???

New Car...SUV!

Back Pain

Craft Day~July

Birthday!

Destin, Florida 2011

Craft Day!

4th of July Wreath

Fun in the Sun!!

Roses!

Miss Landry!

Nice Surprise!

CCD-Wine Glasses!

Mother's Day!

Three Years!

Lillie Bear

Independent

New & Improved

Breezy Saturday!

Easter Wreath

STARS!!!

Layla Update

Horse, Cows, & Tractor

Cowboy Take Me Away

Craft Craze Day

Craft Group

Layla's Slightly Spoiled

Stranger...Does Not Always Equal Danger!

Granny & Nannie

Hooptie Blue...You give me the Blues!!

Thunder Conversation

Love Me Some Halloween

Adorable Morgan

State Fair 2010

Red Light Tickets :(

Oh HaPpY DaY!!

Sisters

SHOULDA COULDA WOULDA

Big Green Tractor

Birthday Fun!

Boring? Okay, Maybe not so Boring!

Chicken Pepper Cannon Ball

Determined!!

So Sweet!

Disclaimer

Deaf? Hard of Hearing? or Selective Hearing?

Blind Date, Oysters, and Such...

"Snow Day" through the Eyes of a Nurse

Dog & Cat Diaries

Meet Maks...

Haiti

Redeeming Love

Birthday!

Surprises!!

Super Cute Chicks...Now Super Big Chicks!!

The Embarrassing Truth!!!

December!!

Have you seen this face before?

Super Cute Chicks

3 Things You Should Know...

Wedding Dresses for a Greater Cause!!!!

*Signs*

Meet Our Children

Thankful!!!

State Fair of Texas

Just Call Me...

Balloons for Chase

Recipe for a Happy Marriage

Chase

God Is Good!!!

Layla-Bayla

♥ Lillie Bear ♥

Signs