All Things New

I love everything about being a "mum-ma" (Lily's current name for me) and I continue to feel overwhelmingly blessed that I have been given this indescribable gift. Though I am unworthy and ill-prepared, I am so thankful that God has allowed me this great honor. Having Lily certainly has changed me. Most notably, she has deepened and widened my heart to a greater love than I have ever known. I feel like I have discovered a new sense of the word and my life is so much sweeter. That in and of itself is such a blessing and gift and I am so grateful.

Easter was especially sweet this year. I had so much fun searching for a perfect first Easter dress, making a matching flower clip and putting together her first Easter basket complete with Gerber puff filled eggs for my little darling to explore. But it is the true meaning of Easter and the sacrifice God made through his one and only son, Jesus, that is the sweetest of all. There is no greater love than this. Thank you Jesus, for making all things new.

Here are a few pictures of Lily exploring her first Easter basket. What a precious gift.

Missing Molly

Our precious pooch, Molly Moose (her unofficial middle name) Sneed went missing about a week ago. I think she is gone for good. My heart is quite torn over the situation and I'm feeling a little guilty. I am sad that she is gone but I honestly feel a bit relieved. I know, I said it. Guilty. It's just that my heart sort of did a 180 (more like a 90, okay a 135) on Molls when Lily was born. She suddenly seemed much more like a hairy, smelly, boisterous dog to me rather than our "baby". Still, I do miss our furry friend. She was one of a kind and we'll never forget her.

We love you Molls, this is for you.

(que sappy music, preferably Boys II Men, It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday)

Pretty Pictures

I have started to enjoy taking pictures more and more the past couple of years. I am in no way, shape or form very good at it but I do like to explore the very small creative side of my brain and try to come up with some pretty pictures. I received Photoshop Elements version 6.0 a couple of years ago as a gift. I felt quite overwhelmed and didn't even know where to begin. So I put it off. Now two years later, I'm feeling a little more determined. Maybe because now I have the most beautiful and precious subject in the whole world, my sweet Lily. I looked into taking a class and I think that would be a really fun thing to do at some point but I have also recently found endless amounts of free tutorials online from wonderful people simply blogging their "how to's" of Photoshop. I have learned a few things but I still don't really feel like I completely get it. There are layers and masks and a billion other things to understand but it feels exciting to at least learn something and maybe little by little I'll get a better grasp of the big picture.

I wanted to learn how to make eyes "sparkle" so I googled, Photoshop Elements eyes and found some helpful information here. Here is a before and after of Lily using the techniques I found and a few other touches I added myself!

Before:

After:

Look at those eyes sparkle! I know what you are thinking, She really is the cutest baby in the world. Told you.

Gotta go! So much to learn and so little time!!

The Beard

Ladies, Gentlement, Friends and Countrymen: It's that time of year again. Yes it is. Every Winter and pretty much whenever he justs gets tired of shaving, Houston grows a beard. But this particular beard had been looming for quite some time now. It began taking it's shape some time last Summer and has hung around ever since. There had been a few trimmings now and then but lately the trimmings had stopped and it was getting a little out of hand. So when March 1st rolled around, I negotiated with my husband that Spring was coming and it was time to say goodbye to the beard. He was hesitant at first, his main reason being worried Lily would not recognize him. Awww so sweet. I coached him along that even if she seemed a little confused it wouldn't take long and she would be fine. So on March 1, 2010 Houston bravely said goodbye to his ever growing friend.

Sadly, I didn't even recognize him so I freaked out, took Lily and fled the country.

Okay not really. But, WOW what a difference! We got a few other pictures that I can't post without permission to do so. I'll see what I can do. We had some pretty good laughs. Houston has a little too much fun while shaving and comes out to show me the different "designs" he's come up with. But the best of all is the good ol' stache. Oh it cracks me up everytime. There is something about a stache that is hilarious and disgusting at the same time. I had the camera out and ready. We got to laughing and really got some good ones then. It's funny already but add Houston cracking up and you've got a doozy.

The next day when Houston got home from work, Lily and I were playing in the living room anxiously awaiting his arrival. Houston was anxious to see her and see if she would react at all. And she did! But it was so sweet. She was patting his face and touching his lips like she was discovering something new. She didn't act like she didn't know him at all. In fact she smiled at him even more and just kept looking at him and smiling. It was almost like she was saying, "Oh Dad, you shaved again" while she patted his face. It was a hit and Houston was beaming.

Moral of the story, Always listen to your wife.

Bueller, Bueller?

Frye? Well hello blog world. I have truly missed you. I have forgotten how therapeutic blogging can be. Is anyone even out there? I realize I have let you all down. I know you have been left in complete and utter suspense checking for updates daily or maybe even hourly and I have left you with nothing. How selfish of me. Well here I am.

I did manage to post a couple of short updates of our sweet little Lily. She is four days from being six months old. What? Sometimes I honestly don't even know what year it is, what month we're in or what season we're approaching. They say having a baby changes everything. Boy were "they" right. Our little dumpling has been a perfect angel thus far but even so, parenthood has been quite the adjustment. Now at six months in, I can honestly say it really is the best thing in the whole world. I had heard so many people say that and truthfully there were times in the beginning that I wasn't so sure. What in the world was wrong with me? Oh right, I had just become responsible for a whole human. Yeah, a whole human. Houston; how can I describe how wonderful he is? Those first couple of months in my exhausted, new mommy, overwhelmed state I went to bed every night resting in the peace of having him right there with me, thanking Jesus for the solid rock that he is for me. Little by little and day by day I have grown quite accustomed to this new roll called Mommy. And I do love it. Boy do I love it. I can not imagine our family without her. When H and I put our little angel to bed each night, we let out a little sigh and thoroughly enjoy our time alone but I am telling you, each and every morning it feels like Christmas and we race up to get our cooing and squealing baby girl out of bed, ready for another precious day.

Well, so long for now, but more to come, I promise! I know you'll all be anxiously awaiting (Mom) so I mustn't let you down! One last thing; to the great Farris Bueller's Day Off, let's take a moment and remember what an epic movie it truly is.

Just a note: I had to repost all of the old posts when I recently updated the blog template. I lost the original post dates (plus everyone's sweet comments) so that is why each of the older posts say, original post date... yada yada. Also, please look for Lily's page, (our baby) to be updated soon where you can find all things lily!

Our Little Pumpkin (original post date 11/5/09)

Lily's 1st Halloween!!!

We had so much fun taking our little pumpkin around to all the grandparents and even two great grandparents!

Lily was mesmerized by her Grandma's shirt! Our little pumpkin is 3 mths old! She is getting to be so much fun and we love to make her smile & giggle!!

Happy Fall!

And Nine Months Later... (original post date 8/10/09)

We had a baby girl! She is beautiful, precious and perfect and we couldn't be more blessed and thankful. Lily Grace was born July 27, 2009 at 5:47pm. She weighed 7lbs 5oz and was 19in long. The entire experience was amazing. Thanks to modern medicine the delivery was painless which made for a very pleasant experience for everyone. We were so thankful for the smooth delivery with no complications and for Lily's health. It was a such a special time and we'll cherish it forever.

Let's Rewind, continued (original post date 3/8/09)

By November I was feeling back to my old self. We had been staying at Houston's parents house while insulation and sheet rock was installed in ours. It was really fun to see the progress and for someone else to do the work! I remember kind of feeling like we needed to take a break from the baby thing and just relax a little. I did a lot of thinking, praying and journaling. As I have said before I felt very strongly in my heart that the Lord had good things for Houston and I and I believed he wanted us to be parents, we just weren't sure when or what that would look like. Almost a year before, my doctor had referred me to a fertility specialist, not because she had found any reason that I needed to go but simply because it had been over a year and I still wasn't getting pregnant. I kept putting if off for fear of the costs but I really think I just wanted to hold on a little longer in hopes that it would just happen. We had scheduled an appointment in October but after realizing that our insurance would pay for very little we decided to wait. We had been saving every dime we had for the past three years to complete the renovations to our house and still had a ways to go. We weren't prepared to pay the high costs of fertility testing and treatment. Also, we felt like we should reschedule the appointment at the beginning of the year so that once our deductible was met, we'd have the rest of the year to apply the small percentage that our insurance would pay. There are no words to describe how much I want to be a mommy and how much I want to see Houston be a daddy. When I met Houston at the bus barn ten years ago in January, it was the way he interacted with people that first caught my eye. (Minus his stud-like features and stellar good looks, of course) In particular, I noticed how friendly he was with the “older” crowd and how amazing he was with the little kids. The kids that rode his school bus adored him. He would have special days that with the parents permission, he'd buy them McDonald's after school and often times make snow cone runs. He was so much FUN. He always had ideas of fun things we could do. When we got married we began dreaming of the day we'd become parents and all the fun things we wanted to do with our kids and that November in our seventh year of marriage we felt more than ready. I knew, however, the inevitable was coming but that I had to continue to believe. My 29th Birthday was November 5th and two of my dearest friends had gotten be a really sweet gift. It was a really fun and cute notepad that said “Believe” at the top. It meant a lot to me as all of our friends had offered so much support during the past couple of years. I put the notepad on my refrigerator to remind me to Believe. But little did I know the Lord was one step ahead and what happened next was the most amazing miracle of my life.

I'll never forget Thursday, November 15th 2008. That entire week had been a rush of emotions, similar to the previous twenty five months we had been trying to conceive. It's the most difficult time of the process because you want to be faithful in believing and trusting in the Lord but at the same time you are so fearful and protective of your heart. My heart was broken each time I had discovered we were not pregnant that month. So on that Thursday evening, as I was driving home from work, I decided I would face my fears, put my mind at rest and find out one way or another if we were we pregnant or not. I have to add that at this point I was four days "behind schedule". The reason I had waited so long to take a test was because every time I had tested before was obviously negative and I just couldn't bear to see another negative pregnancy test. So I just kept waiting for the inevitable. Houston was working late that night helping his boss with a remodel project and I hadn't really filled him in on the situation. I usually would have but again, I just kind of figured I'd spare him the drama and it would all be over soon. When I got home I was ready to face my fears and put my mind at rest. I took the test, set it aside and carefully watched the clock and waited until it was time to take a look. I picked up the test and could not believe what I saw. For the first time ever, there was a very light pink line in the second window. My jaw hit the floor and I was freaking out. I remember thinking and feeling like it was a "magic" test or something. That all of the other ones "didn't work" but this one was magic! The positive result was the most amazing thing I had ever seen! There truly aren't any words to describe how I felt and I couldn't wait to tell Houston. I always thought it would be fun to surprise him in some fun way but I could not wait one more second to share this unbelievable news with him so I called him right away. He sounded excited but I think he was nervous to really believe it when he hadn't seen it yet. I told him the second pink line was faint but it was definitely there. When he got home that night we went to the store and bought a few more tests. We bought more of the two lines kind and a couple of the digital ones that either say, "pregnant" or "not pregnant". We waited until morning to test again. I woke up around 5am and I was ready. I remember that I was still so nervous about it and fearful that it was somehow a mistake. I decided to use the two lines one again, since that one had "worked" last time. It sounds so silly but I was afraid of seeing the words "not pregnant" on the digital one. This time the second pink line was much darker! I ran to show Houston and we celebrated with hugs and cheers. We were so excited. We couldn't go back to sleep so we stayed up and talked about it until it was time to get ready for work. I ended up taking several more tests. It was like I had to pinch myself to believe this was really happening and seeing the positive result was so amazing. The first few months were really hard. I was so scared of losing this precious miracle. I clung to the Lord with all my heart and found rest only in him over the next several weeks. I never expected to be so emotional about it but it was really hard. I think my fears came from the fact that it took so long to get there and how emotionally invested we were in the process. We were in church one Sunday morning and recording artist, Jami Smith was there to sing a few of her songs. She sang "Faith In You" and I could not hold back the tears. When we got home I listened to it over and over again. Just hearing and saying the words, "I have faith in you" gave me so much strength and peace. I was reminded that no matter what I could rely on the Lord for all of my needs and that I really had to have faith in Him despite any fears of what "might" happen in our lives. We are now 24 weeks and are still so amazed at God's faithfulness to our family. We feel so blessed and are excited beyond words to continue to experience the blessing of being pregnant and can't wait to meet our little one!

Here is the song, "Faith In You" by Jami Smith. I hope it ministers to you like it did to me. Love, Kristin

Let's Rewind (original post date 2/18/09)

A lot had been happening in the Sneed Family the last few months. I feel blessed beyond words as God has proven himself faithful to our family and trusting in the Lord with all my heart has a whole new meaning. It's been so long since I posted last and life has changed a lot for us the past few months. We have been very busy with work and the farmhouse. I want to share all that has been going on but I think I''ll rewind a ways just to give you a better feel for how blessed we are feeling right now. I think I had mentioned in a previous post that we had taken a little get away trip to Dallas one weekend in October. It was a simple little trip but it meant a lot to me. I had been dealing with some pretty heavy anxiety and depression the previous couple of months and just couldn't seem to snap out of it. My heart was broken as we had been trying to get pregnant for two years at that point with out success. I have always held Proverbs 3:5 & 6 close to my heart and believed in God's goodness and the good things he had for us. But for some reason I hit a rough patch and felt that God had left me behind. It was a really dark time for me and I feared it would never end. I'm pretty sure Houston feared that too as he (bless his heart) was at his wits end with me. Depression is such a scary thing and I remember trying to find something to lift my spirits or to “make me happy”. Although this is going to sound funny, in all seriousness, I had found something that sounded like fun and made me smile. Please don't laugh. Okay you can laugh and I'll laugh with you! I discovered that Jessica Simpson was scheduled to make a stop at the Texas State Fair during her tour of fairs and it was free with admission to the fair. I realize it sounds terribly silly that seeing Jessica in concert would bring me out of my deep depression but I don't think that was the intention but rather it sounded like a fun thing to do. I had always heard the Texas State Fair was fun and Houston and I enjoy that kind of thing. So we planned our trip and I was looking forward to it. By mid October the Lord had helped me to finally come out of the sad darkness I was in and I was feeling much better. I was still very much looking forward to our weekend getaway. I mean who wouldn't be totally stoked to see Jessica Simpson!? We had a lot of fun. We ate some fair food, walked through the buildings, and looked at the animals. But at 6pm I had to ditch Houston to stand at the very front of the Chevrolet Main Stage and wait patiently for two hours for Jessica's concert to begin. No, I'm not joking. I stood there. By myself. For two hours. As I stood there and people watched, I noticed the area was filling up with twenty one year old blonde Jessica Simpson look-a-likes. I'll admit I felt pretty stupid but it was just a fun and girly thing to do and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute. Houston joined me just before the concert began. Jessica was great and it was fun seeing her in person. She sang all of her new songs from the country album and a few others.

After the concert we got cotton candy and headed for the rides. We decided to look for the most extravagant and thrilling ride we could find. We definitely found it and let me just say that I enjoy this kind of thing, even that tiny bit of fear is fun to me. However, as this ride began and I was thrust 165ft high in the air overlooking what seemed like all of Texas, I felt more than just a tiny bit of fear. In fact, I was terrified and in tears! When it was over, it literally took me about an hour to recover. I think I was in shock. After recovering I had somehow convinced myself it was so much fun and the best ride ever. We spent the night in Dallas and had fun the following day doing some shopping and piddling around. There is a point to this story, sort of. Basically it was a really memorable trip for me at a time when I needed it. I felt like we were two kids on a romantic and fun date to the fair complete with cotton candy and Jessica Simpson. It helped me to relax a little and remember to enjoy Houston and our time together, just the two of us. Also, it was that weekend I realized that we had failed at our attempt to conceive for the twenty fifth time and I was in desperate need of a distraction...

Haunting Tales from Eureka Springs (original post date 12/2/08)

Truly, Thanksgiving is a great holiday. It's so fun to be with familly and friends as the cold weather sets in with Christmas lurking right around the corner. After turkeying it up with our families H & I headed east to meet some of our favorite friends, Blake & Shelly, in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. It was a great trip complete with a Ghost Tour at the Crescent, a red heart shaped jacuzzi and Snow!!! I mean really, does it get any better than that? Not to mention how hilarious Blake is. He kept the laughter rolling, as usually. I kept leaving my camera in the car throughout the trip so I didn't get many photos at all. (I hate it when I do that!) However, I did get a few.

This is the little cabin H & I stayed in. It was really cute and cozy. It was basically two rooms. The front room had a bed, some recliners, a tv and a fireplace. The back room had a red heart shaped jazuzzi (and another tv for some jacuzzi R&R and a movie!), a little kitchen area with a mini fridge, sink and microwave, and a bath room with a shower off of that room. The best part of all was waking up to snow on Sunday morning. We had our fire going all night (gas logs) and it was so cozy!

On Saturday night we went to the Old, Creepy, Crescent Hotel on the hill for a ghost tour. They say the place is haunted and the show, Ghost Hunters has even been there to film some of the "action".

There was a group of about 30 people or so all standing in the hallway on the 2nd floor of the hotel next to the grand stairway leading down to the lobby. A very enthusiastic gentlemen with a nasaly voice began the tour by talking about how he reads peoples energies and the many layers of auras we all have. At this point I'm a little annoyed and thinking, whatever dude. He was telling us to be aware of what was happening around us as we went through the tour and if we felt weird or something strange around us that it was probably a ghost, oh I mean an "out of body person". I was so over it until suddenly I felt something strange. I started to get really hot and light headed. My heart started racing and I turned to Houston and said, "I think I'm going to pass out." There was a landing in the middle of the stairway with a bench and I managed to make it down the stairs. I wanted to keep going on down to the lobby but honestly I was really scared. I had never felt this way before and I didn't think I would make it. Houston came down to check on me and I was aware that the entire group of people could have easily been watching and wondering what was happening but I felt so terrible that it didn't bother me. Houston, on the other hand, was very aware of the group nearby and seemed to think I was putting on some sort of dramatic scene, like I was part of the tour or something. He kept telling me under his breath as serious as can be, "Stop." He was literally annoyed at this overly dramatic production he thought I was putting on. I had no energy to fight back. Instead I just started falling over and he was holding me up by the back of my coat. I think my eyes were mostly closed and I think once Houston noticed that I had no reaction to him telling me to stop and I wouldn't even look at him, that I was not "pretending". So after a few minutes I started feeling much better and we walked down to the lobby. I felt well enough for Houston to go back to the tour and I was happy setting on the coach by the fire. So I guess those energies, auras and spirits really just took over my body and... just kidding. I think we were standing in the large group too long and I must have locked my knees or something. Thankfully I didn't pass out and I'll never let H forget how he kept telling me to "Stop". He might be upset that I'm telling this to the world on our blog but I really don't say it to make him feel bad or look like a bad husband. That's just sort of his personality and it makes me laugh. He's not one to butter me up and baby me which I actually like. Maybe every once in while, but for the most part he lets me do my own thing. However, if I ever feel like passing out again, I think he'll be a little more gentle!

After saying our goodbyes on Sunday to Blake & Shelly we decided to drive over to the Eagle Crest Mill for lunch. It was a really pretty area close to Beaver Lake. I got a couple of shots of H very entrigued with the mill.

We had such a fun time with our friends and spending some quality time together as well! I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and...

Merry Christmas!

Oh What a Beautiful Morning! (original post date 11/13/08)

Lately, I've been waking up a little earlier on the weekends than I usually do. Does that mean I'm a grown up? Now, when I say early I mean about 7am. I suppose that may not be early to some but without any children to beckon me at the crack of dawn I could sleep until 9, 10, 11am...or even until 12pm if I wanted to, right? Well that might be pushing it but I certainly feel a little more adult-like rising all on my own at 7am on a Saturday morning. I mean, after all I am 29 now. (Yipes!) A couple of weekends ago I woke up to an early morning fog. The fall folliage mixed with the foggy haze was so beautiful that I felt inspired to go for a walk. I put on my coat and shoes, grabbed my camera and headed out.

Houston is building his parent's new house in between our house and their old house. There is about ten acres between us now, but soon there will only be five. Yikes! They're gaining on us! Just kidding. I couldn't ask for better inlaws and having them close by has been nothing but a blessing. The framing on the new house had just begun and I decided I would walk through the pasture to see the progress and see just how close they would be.

There is a gate that separates their land from ours (and keeps the cows in). Speaking of the cows, I still get a little nervous walking through the pasture when they're out there. They just stare at me in a creepy I'm about to charge you sort of way and sometimes after I walk passed them they start following me. I don't really like that. Thankfully, on this particular morning they were all cozied up together by the barn and didn't have any aspirations to move.

Standing at the gate, I could barely see the frame of the house through the fog. To get an idea of where our house is from theirs, here is a shot of our house from the gate.

I really am excited about their new house. My mother-in-law is a wonderful cook and host and she has spent many years with quite a small kitchen. Her new house has an amazing kitchen that she, along with the help of an architect, designed especially for baking and entertaining. It is going to be really great. I am also really excited for my father-in-law. He seems to be really excited about the new place and I think coming home to a nice new house will be very relaxing for him. Here is a shot of what the house looked like that morning.

As I walked back to our house the fog had cleared. It was such a beautiful morning. It reminded me how refreshing it can be to spend time outside when it is pretty like that.

Here is one last shot of what the inlaw's place looks like now. I love the sloped roof with the dormers and the gables on each side and the large front porch where they can set out on their rocking chairs and watch the sun go down. I feel like I can take a small amount of credit for the home's elevation. I found a picture of a house on Southern Living's website that is almost identical to this one. This style had been what my mother-in-law had in mind so I printed it off and it ended up being the main picture she went by for the front of the house. It is going to turn out amazing and I love to watch as it all comes together.

Bless you, if you have made it through this entire post. It went a little long!

Weekend at Willow Springs (original post date 9/30/08)

H & I went to the boys ranch for the weekend to stay with the Liddel house. We had a great time as usual. There are only 4 boys at that house right now so it was pretty low key. There are lots of things that made me laugh this weekend. I'll give you the highlights. (I totally forgot my camera so I missed a lot of the action on Friday & Saturday but we went by our house on Sunday before church so I got a few pics.)

Here we all are (minus Houston) in the van playing it cool. We were waiting patiently for H while he ran into Lowes after church.

So back to the things that made me laugh.

Funny thing #1.

There is a new little boy next door. His name is Cameron (Cameron Kale Keaton to be exact) and he is 9 yrs old and in the 4th grade. He goes to Park Road Elementary and his teacher's name is Mrs. Taylor and she is the nicest teacher in the whole 4th grade. I picked up pretty quickly that this little guy has lots of energy. Then I remembered that last time we were at the ranch we had heard about a new boy coming that was on medication to help keep him from bouncing off the walls. This was definately him. He's a cute little guy with blond hair, blue eyes and lots of freckles. He came over on Saturday afternoon. H & a couple of the guys & me were watching a movie in the living room. Cameron storms in, runs up the stairs to the loft area and starts playing pool and ping pong all at the same time jumping back and forth from one to the other and making lots of noise. I have to add that when he came in he had on a cowboy hat, mud boots up to his thighs, jean shorts, no shirt and was literally covered in dirt. I still would like to know if he was actually rolling around in the dirt somewhere or how in the world it got all over him. So it's pretty hard to hear the TV anyways because the house is so big and open and some of us were getting a little irritated that he was making so much noise. Houston asked Cameron if Derin knew he was here and Cameron said, "Yeah, he's getting the garbage out of the garage and I'm just waiting for him to finish". Well it turns out that Derin is not getting the garbage. So as nicely as possible we suggested to Cameron that he go and "check in". I felt a little bad about it but we really weren't sure if anyone knew where he was and he was pretty wired to say the least. Earlier that day I was talking to my Mom on my cell phone in our room and Cameron comes running in, says "I have to go to the bathroom", continues into our bathroom and doesn't even close the door all the way. I sat there for a minute a little dazed and then decided I should leave and "give him a little more privacy". When I went back into our room, well let's just say it wasn't pleasant and I ended up having to do some cleaning. It wasn't that bad but when I gave the details to Houston (I'll spare you of them) he was a little disgusted. I couldn't help but just laugh. He reminded me of my little brothers when they were learning to use the big potty and would yell for me to come and "help" them.

So funny thing #2.

The guys at the ranch love to play basketball and this weekend was no different. They played for hours and hours. Regular games, PIG, HORSE, whatever. What's so funny about that? Well, the goal was 4ft tall and made by Little Tikes.

I am not even joking. They played 2 on 2 Saturday night for hours. And it was like tackle basketball or something. Thankfully though no one got too out of hand or crazy. On top of that, there is no telling how many games of Pig & Horse were played. I played three games with Shaquille and I beat him twice!! I asked him if he was letting me win and he said no. Probably was though.

Here is H & Shaq in action.

Funny thing #3.

Saturday night I had been cooking dinner for our 4 guys, 2 guys from next door and Houston. I went to tell them it was ready and discovered all 7 of them completely glued to the TV and I kid you not, they were watching Spongebob Square Pants, The Movie. It was a pretty funny sight. I sat down for a second next to Houston and told him dinner was ready. He said, "Okay, this is almost over". So I watched the rest of it with them. Have you seen it? I mean just to be quick, the ending involved David Hasslehoff carrying Spongebob across the ocean and then launching him back to his home under the sea via the muscles in his chest. I mean where do they come up with this stuff? And why were they watching that?

Last, Funny thing #4.

This is John.

You might remember him from the Leprechaun video? He was recently nominated for a few things for the senior class nominations. I listed them on the photo above. John wore this thick, flannel work shirt the entire time he vacuumed the living room and cleaned his room while continuing to say, "Burr, it's cold in here". He then insisted that I take this picture of him in front of the pond while he pretended it was really cold outside. However, it had to be well into the 90s. Best of luck to you, John with the nominations and all. But I think they forgot one.

Just kidding. He's not crazy.

Well we sure had a fun time with all the guys this weekend. After dinner on Saturday night Cody came over and watched a movie (not spongebob) with John and H & I . Cody is the only guy left from our house when we were there as houseparents. We love Cody. He's a great guy and really sweet. And a little goofy too. It was nice to hang out with him for a while. Again I have to give props to John and Katrina who are the houseparents of the Liddel house. They are truly amazing and give so much to their boys. I think they are going on close to 10 yrs there. Pretty amazing.

Whew. That was a long post.

Happy Birthday Matt & Drew! (original post date 8/15/08)

Friday was my brothers' 23rd birthdays. Yes, they are twins. Can't you tell from the pictures? They really are twins but don't look anything alike. I was 5 yrs. old when they were born and I felt pretty cool to be the big sister of brand new twin babies. They are very special to me. I found some old pics of us from back in the day...

Aren't they cute? (Drew is on the left & Matt is on the right.) I just love them so much. We all got together on Sunday night at Texas Roadhouse for some peanuts & rolls with honey butter, oh yeah. It was really nice to see my family. My Dad & brothers are pretty much silly & goofy most of the time so it was a night of throwing peanut shells at each other, jokes & movie lines. Lots of movie lines. I used to be able to keep up but now I don't even know half of the movies they are talking about. I am really proud of both of my brothers. Drew will graduate soon from UCO with a degree in Industrial Safety. He is very interested in being a firefighter. Matt has just been accepted into the Oklahoma City Police Academy. I am very proud of him. He has worked really hard for this and has had a long time goal of becoming a police officer. Happy Birthday M & D, I love ya!

Happy Anniversary, Babe! (original post date 8/3/08)

H & I have now been married for 7 wonderful years! To celebrate, we wanted to go all out. So we went to Pops. Okay so we were going to go to a nice restaraunt but honestly we thought Pops sounded like more fun and easier. It was a really nice evening so we got the Scout out and headed east. So everytime we go to Pops, H likes to try a new kind of drink. (Imagine that, huh?) Anyways, let's be honest here. Most of the time it doesn't work out well. I decided I would capture the "routine" on film. First he has to make his pick. Then figure out how to open it. (It was a strange bottle & confusing to open - not a good sign if you ask me.) Here goes nothin. "Not bad" was his reaction. I'm so not buying it. So we stuff our faces with hot dogs & fries (could we be any more unhealthy? Oh wait, I got a diet dr. pepper.) We had a lot of fun goofing around and H thought it was funny to take pictures of me eating.

I love the way the Pops bottle lights up at night. It really is a unique and fun place. In order to appropriately end the evening, we listened to "Jesus take the wheel" and sang it to the top of our lungs on the way home. Happy Anniversary, Babe! You da man.

Qua Pasa? (original post date 7/30/08)

I know, I know. It's been forever since my last post. It has been a busy couple of months and the summer has flown by. We've gone to the lake, attended my ten year high school reunion, celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary and went on vacation to Cabo San Lucas. We had been looking foward to our vacation since early this year when we made the plans. Finally, it was the day before we were scheduled to leave and I was getting really excited throughout the day at work. That evening as Houston and I were finishing packing we discovered some startling news. Houston's passport had expired in March! We were completely shocked and totally embarassed that we could be so irresponsible. We imediately checked to be sure we could still cross the border with a birth certificate and driver's license. We soon learned of the new law recently passed that you had to have a passport. We were speachless. I remember sitting on the floor with my head in my hands trying to let the terrible news register. A few minutes later Houston had an idea. He had researched online that you can still drive or walk across the border without a passport. He proposed the idea to change our flight to San Diego, walk across the border to Tijuana, rent a car and drive down the entire Baja pennisula (24 hr drive) to Cabo San Lucas. I was totally game and started to get excited but there were so many details to work out. While Houston talked to the airline to check on rescheduling our flight, I checked online for information on driving down the baja. I found lots of great information and many people saying the drive was really amazing. By 3am we had changed our flights, reserved a rental car in Tijuana and confirmed with our resort in Cabo that we would be arriving two days late. We were also able to change our flight home to Monday instead of Saturday to allow for the two days of driving on the way back. After a few hours of sleep we were headed to the airport. I was a little nervous about a few things but mostly excited. Houston and I had always wanted to plan a road trip to somewhere in Mexico and now after only a few hours of planning it was happening. One of the things I love most about Houston is that he is so much fun. We both love being spontaneous and adventurous and this was definately going to be an adventure! The trip was a blast and we honestly would not have wanted it any other way.

I put together a video slide show of our pictures from the trip. Just FYI, it's meant to be cheesy. Especially the pictures of the resort in Cabo. I had a lot of fun putting this together. Enjoy!

Happy 30th Birthday Houston! (original post date 4/30/08)

We threw a surprise b-day party for Houston's 30th Birthday last Sunday & it was so much fun! Houston was totally surprised! I tried really hard to pull it off but was worried he would figure it out. It turned out perfect but I didn't sleep all week because I was so nervous! We had the party at the RedPin in Bricktown. It's this new restaurant & "bowling lounge" on the canal next to the Harkins Theatre. It was really nice & so much fun.

We just did the family thing and even my 78 year old grandma ("G-ma") bowled. My mom said that when they picked her up she said, "I would really like to bowl. Is that okay?" She even brought her own bowling shoes!! I was so happy with how it all turned out & everyone seemed to have a good time!

In the group picture from left to right are: 1st row - H's "Mamaw", H's Aunt Beverly, my brother Matt, my mom Jami, & my "G-ma". 2nd row - H's cousin Travis, my dad Jim & my brother Drew. 3rd row - Me, H's Uncle Denny, H's sister Nikki & H's mom Teresa. 4th row - Houston, H's brother-in-law Scott & H's dad Perry.