Happy Halloween

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy and Safe Halloween. We really don't have anything exciting planned, we are just going to pass out candy to the few trick or treaters we do get. We live at the end of a culd-a-sac so it is hard to see our porch light from the street. So we never really get very many kiddos. But it will be fun none the less with the ones that we do get.

HaPpY HaLLowEEn

My scarecrow people on the front porch.
How cute are they!

Jesse

Jesse, Jesse, Jesse.... What can I say about Jesse! Our neighbor's ended up with him after the hurricane. His previous owner lived in Galveston and lost his home to IKE. He moved into our neighborhood to his sisters house who said that he couldn't not keep the dog. So long story short our neighbor's directly next door took him in. The first week or so he was real cute and all that good mushy stuff. Now he GROWING!!!! We actually feel kind of sorry for him though. I think he is to much DOG for them to handle. It was all fun and games at first and now I feel like they neglect him a little.. About 2 weeks ago we noticed that they keep him chained to a tire in the back yard. Pretty much because they are to lazy to fix their fallen down fence from the storm. Being in the backard is one thing but he has no where to go for shade because they have no trees, and his small little water bowl seems to never have water in it because he always dumps it over. Now when they do let him out to play, they bring him in the front yard and let him off the leash. NOT SO SMART!!!

This weekend Jeff was working in the yard and out of no where here comes Jesse! And what a SHOCKER no one was with him. So he hung out with Jeff doing yard work for a few minutes until we took him back home. Did I mention that Spencer is scared of him..... My poor baby! OH and did I also mention that he has massive poop? I know this because he keeps leaving it in my yard. And his nice owners do not ever pick it up...... So the next time Spencer thinks he wants to go to their yard to visit.. I think Ill let him and repay the favor!

Jesse hanging out to do yard work!


Telling Spencer Hello through
the dining room window. Spencer
is telling him to GO HOME!

Buck Rubbings

This weekend Jeff was doing some much needed yard work, when he came upon some deer rubbing's on one of our bushes in the front yard. There is always deer here in the neighborhood but in the 3 years that we have lived here we have not ever seen any in our yard. Right after the hurricane we drove around and did see about 10 bucks in someone else's yard about 1/4 mile from the house. However normally we don't really get to see them until around Christmas/ January. So this was a nice little treat. The funny part about all of this is that last weekend we were out of town for 4 days. And when we got home we noticed that the branches on a bush right next to the air conditioner were broken. And like always we blamed it on reckless kids riding their bikes or whatever through our yard. When really it was taken out by a deer. *Sorry Kids*

Woody Wood Pecker

This is what we woke up to yesterday.. This annoying little bird pecking the crap out of our neighbors tree, that pretty much hangs over our back yard. I let Spencer out in the back yard and thought for sure he would scare him off. Well I was wrong! I had Jeff grab the camera and I think I was able to get some pretty good pictures of the little fella. As he was pecking away on their tree we noticed another one come up, but before I could get my camera focused they were both gone. It was really neat to watch but I hope they don't come back anytime soon!

Little Man

Doesn't this face just make you smile? I just wanted to share this picture with everyone. Connor has went from a cute baby boy to such a handsome little man. He too is growing up way tooo fast!

Mr. Potato Head

I know every kid growing up had a Mr. Potato Head. You remember it was the big brown potato and then you would stick the eyes, nose, ears and mouth on it. And no matter how crazy looking it really was your parents ALWAYS told you how cute it was and that you did a really good job!!! Like it was really hard cramming body parts into a plastic potato, and remember it had a "flap" in the back to store all the parts when you were done playing. Anyways getting to the point. My sister bought this cute little "decoration" for Kinley's princess party this weekend and I thought it was absolutely to cute. And I have to admit, it was a little fun putting it together. The only difference was this one was called the "Party Princess Pumpkin". I guess a party princess potato didn't sound as appealing. Anyways it was cute no the less.

This is the Mr. Potato Head that
we all grew up playing with!

And this is the Miss. Princess Party Pumpkin
of today. Pretty CUTE huh!!!

Misti's Baby Shower

This past Sunday I helped host a baby shower for my friend Misti and her new baby girl Emersyn. Misti has 2 boys already so when we found out she was finally going to have a little girl to love as well. We all went nuts, and I think she is all PINKED out now. She got lots of cute girly gifts and pretty little bows (props to Nicole for her newly found talent of bow making). We all had a really good time and I was excited to see all my friends from Providence. I miss you girls something awful..

Cake table

Emersyn's tutu!

the presents

the guests

pink pedi peds

I had her bobby pillow embroidered with
Emersyn's name

~* Congratulations Misti I cant wait to meet little Miss Emersyn Brooke*~

What a difference a year makes.

Just a quick post about Kinley again. I was looking back at some pictures of her over the past year. And my gosh how she has changed. Since we live in Houston and don't really get to see her that much to us she looks completely different every single time we see her. And looking back at these pictures I realized just how much of the past year I really did miss.

1 day old.

1 year old.

Kinley's 1st Birthday Party!!!

Well I absolutely can not believe that Kinley is a whole 1 year old. It seems like yesterday that Shelly told us she was expecting. She has went from a beautiful baby to an even more beautiful little girl. And I fall more in love with her every single day. She is such a sweetie pie. I know how much I love her so I can't imagine how much I will love my own kids. Craziness!!!!

Saturday was Kinley's birthday party. It was all PINK, frilly and princessey(is that a word). Just as you might have guessed. Everything was just perfect and Shelly really did a great job making sure everything came together just so. She had a lot of friends and family come by to help celebrate, which was great because I don't get to see them very much since we all live all over the place. She LOVES birthday cake I might add and she had a blast in her bouncy house. All in all she had a very good day. And we all look forward to what her next year in tales.

**Auntie M loves you Kinley and I hope you had a great birthday!**

Princess Cake

dont you LOVE her TUTU

Me and Kinley
(the best picture i had )

yummy delicious cake

enjoying her cake

fun times in the princess
castle bounce house

4 Day Weekend...

So we are off for a fun filled 4 day weekend in Waco. We are so excited and can't wait to get home. We both have to work a full day tomorrow and then we are headed out. We are going to be staying at Jeff's parents on Thursday night. We are ready to see if the new house looks any different since the last time that we saw it. Then Friday I am going in for a much needed HAIR CUT!!! And can hardly wait for that part. Sad huh!! Then Saturday is Kinley's 1st birthday party. This for me is probably the most exciting part of my whole trip. It is so hard to believe that she is that old already. There will be alot of my family there that we do not really get to see. So that should be fun. THEN Sunday I am helping host a baby shower for one of my EX-coworkers. I am excited about this too because I miss these girls so much and I hardly ever get to see them. So it will be good to catch up with everyone. Sunday we plan on just hanging out and then we head back to Houston sometime on Monday. Not really my idea of a "relaxing" 4 day weekend, but a FUN/BUSY weekend none the less.
So im sure that i will have lot's of good things to blog about when we get back.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!

Well yet another year has come, for me to turn yet another year older. Actually this year turning 31 did not seem as bad to me as last year. It's funny how the older you get birthday's just do not seem as important as they used to. My niece Kinley's birthday is 4 days after mine and even though she is not my daughter, I have looked so forward to her day and her party and have not even really thought about mine.

However, we did celebrate my day. We went out to dinner at FoGO de Chao with Scott and Lori and then went out downtown to Sambuca's and had a few drinks. Yet sadly enough we were home by 12:30. I think that is how you know you are getting old. Happy Birthday To ME!!!!!

** Thank you to all of you that called, text, and emailed. I appreciate all the wishes**

(Here are some pictures from my night. They are not real great ! It was humid what can i say.)

Me and Jeff

Me and Lori

Lori & Scott


FoGo de' Chao

yummy

tasty wedding cake martini :)

I almost forgot... How great is my husband ~ today on my actual birthday he cooked me my FAVORITE for lunch. Pot Roast.. AWWW I love him

Flash Back

So I kind of "stole" this post from my sister. But the way I see it she's my little sister and I have had to put up with alot over the years, so if "stealing" her post is the worst thing I have ever done to her, then I think im okay!!

Anyhow! We found this really cute website called YearbookYourself.com You upload a picture of yourself and it lets you see what you would have looked like back in the day! It is so funny to see all of the different pictures that it comes up with. But of course I was the only one laughing, I don't think Jeff was quite as amused as I was..

Check out our pictures. I bet you had no idea just how HOTT we both were!

me in 1960

1966
(i see my mother)

1968
(i think my mom has this exact same picture)

Check out my HOTT husband!

1956
(he looks like his dad)

1970

1978

Generation Kill

(I know the title sounds horrible)

A couple of months ago we started watching this TV miniseries on HBO. The first night it was on I remember thinking "oh my gosh, this is just great another shoot'em up show on TV" By the end of the hour I found myself standing in my kitchen not being able to take my eyes off the TV. (Why was I standing in the kitchen and not sitting on the couch you ask? Well I really have no idea!)
The series is a true story based on the beginning of the war, "Iraqi Freedom." The book/TV Series was written by Rolling Stones journalist Evan Wright chronicling his experiences as an embedded reporter with the 1st Recon battalion during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The mini series only lasted 7 weeks. And I couldn't wait until 8:00pm every sunday night for those few weeks. We literally made it like movie night. We would snuggle up on the couch and turn off all the lights and turn up the surround sound. It was such a great show. And it really makes you appreciate everything those men and women have gone through and are still going through just for us.
After the show was over I couldn't wait to go buy the book. I have read it cover to cover and it is just as good as the series. I totally recommend it if your looking for a good book to read. So get on over to Barnes and Noble and pick yours up. Or if you ask nicely I might let you borrow mine. :)

Dr. Pepper

Back in August we went to the coast with a bunch of our friends. It seems that every time we get together Kristy always seems to buy a little something for the girls. Last year she bought me a package of Dr. Pepper chap stick. And this year she gave me a Dr. Pepper cake mix and icing. It all comes packaged together and all you have to do is add butter, vanilla, and 1cup of Dr. Pepper. If you couldn't already tell I LOVE DR. PEPPER!!! I decided that last night would be a good night to do a little baking. The best thing about this little project is that it was probably the easiest thing I have ever bake.
When I was little my grandmother used to make a Coke Cola cake. This is exactly what this cake reminded me of. It was absolutely delicious, and it reminded me so much of my mamaw.

** Thanks again Kristy you always seem to buy the best gifts. I should have just waited until you guys came down so I could have shared some with you.**

DUBLIN Dr. Pepper

Cake /Icing Mix



Yummy cake.. You pour the icing on hot, so that is
why it looks all bubbled up on one side.

YUMMY!

Life Before, During and After IKE

Well our life over the past 3 weeks have been nothing more than one big CRAZY journey.... As glad as we are that it is finally over, it is memories that we will have for the rest of our lives. Let me start from the beginnig.
We started watching this storm they called IKE enter the Gulf of Mexico. At this point we were not to concerned because all of the news reports were saying that it was going to make land fall somewhere around Rockport, Texas. As a couple of more days past they reported that it would then make landfall alittle more northeast, which brought it somewhat closer to Houston. On Thursday, September 11, 2008 IKE was then forcasted to make land fall just west of Galveston, and possibly even hit Galveston directly. We were told not to report to work on Friday and to get ready for a big storm.
So Thrusday after work we came home and started picking up things around the back yard. The more I began to think about what we were soon to be in for, i convienced Jeff that we really should board up the windows. So after alittle hesitation from him, off to LOWES we went. We sat in line from 8:45- 10:00 pm and bought all the plywood they would let us buy. We woke up early Friday morning and began to get busy cutting all the pieces to fit just right on each window. I was extremely proud of Jeff and it only took us about 2.5 hours. We then ran some errands around town to pick up a 2nd fan and some more candles. Came back home finished up some last minute preperations and hunkered down....
About 5:30pm (9/12/08) storm clouds began to roll in and the wind gradually started to pick up. About 7:00 the lights started to flicker off and on for the next couple of hours. At 10:00pm the wind was up pretty high and we decided to try to get some sleep before the winds got to bad and we couldnt go to sleep. Get this by 10:30 my husband was ASLEEP!! I watched TV until 12:10am when the lights went OUT. And they were out for good this time. About 3am the eye wall made it to our area and the winds were horrible. They say that they got to be about 105 miles per hour. The house was popping and creaking. The wind was howling. The dog at that point FREAKED out so we spent the next 2 hours calming him down. I think between all of that I maybe slept about 2 hours, and that is a big MAYBE . At 5am we were in the eye of the storm. Jeff FINALLY woke up and we decided to go outside to see if our house was ok up until this point. We walked outside to the most eary feeling ever. Absolute stillness. You could hear the frogs croking, you could even see the stars. No wind, No rain, No anything and a MILLION bugs everywhere. We noticed that our fence was down and our neighbor had a tree on his roof. He didnt even hear it hit. After about 45 minutes the wind began to pick back up and we headed back inside. At 6:30 the sun came up but we still couldnt get outside because the winds were still so strong. FINALLY at noon we made it out to the garage to see what IKE had left behind. Trees everywhere. Powerlines, phonelines, cablelines all down. We started cleaning up our yard once the rain stopped and then decided to head to Waco for the next few days. While we were there my parents offered us their motorhome to bring back with us. So we of course jumped on that offer. Filled it up with gas, propane, and 35 gallons of extra gas, and 20 bags of ice and headed back to Houston 3 days later. We sat up our 'new' house and lived there in our cul-desac for the next 11 days. (hillbillies i know) As hard as it was living in the RV for those days we were thankful for it and even more thankful that we still had our house that one day the lights would come back on in.. We started to see power crews make their way to our neighborhood on Tuesday Sept. 23 they worked hard everyday and finally on Saturday the 27th they turned the lights back on. ( We love you electrical men from Charleston, Pennsylvania). So we headed back to Waco to take the RV back home. Spent the night and left the next morning for Houston. We are so glad to be back in our house with our lights on.
We are VERY thankful for what we have even though we did grip about not having electricity. I think about the families in Galveston that do not even have their homes any longer for the lights to come back on in. These people are in our thoughts and prayers everyday. And hopefully they will be in yours.
** Thank you for your thought and prayers for me and Jeff. And dont worry i dont think we will stay through another one.**

This was our house after we boarded it up

Side view of the house

The morning after this was looking out of our front door.
Check out the leaning bushes to the right. Thats
NOT what they normally look like.

This is our neighbor right behind us.

Homes all over our neighborhood looked like this
Hundred's of uprooted trees...

Down powerlines at the enterance

Chase building downtown. Blown out windows.