Pink Shirt

My husband is not one of those guys who will ever wear a pink shirt. He doesn't necessarily think it is bad if another guy does, but he will NOT wear pink....

If I keep doing laundry, he may have to change that philosophy!

I do the laundry in our house 95% of the time. Occassionally, Dan will do a load but the vast majority of the time it is me.

Last night, I decided to get all caught up on the laundry before we left town for Christmas. Somehow, Daniel's white "Superhero in training" shirt (he does love random t-shirts) got thrown in with a load of reds...I'm blaming it on the baby (not really)...she has definitely given me pregnancy brain, though!! :) His white shirt with blue writing and trim is now a lovely shade of pale pink.

Personally, I think it is kinda pretty...when I told him that, he told me I could have it now. Guess I won't be getting him to wear that pink shirt to my office Christmas party tonight!!

Random Picture Post

I have been promising pictues of several things for a while now and I am just now getting to fulfill that promise! I am sorry that the sonogram pictures are so blurry. (Sono pics aren't always that great anyway, right!!) I kept trying to scan them more clearly but it just wouldn't work, so you will have to use your imagination!!

My daughter, the toe sucker....yes, that is her foot in her mouth. That seems to be her favorite place to keep it!

This is the outfit that we bought right after we found out she was a she! Daniel wanted something a little sportier but let me have something with pink lace as well!

Our first Christmas tree! Daniel ordered it off of Ebay and we were pleasantly surprised with the results! Now I just need to get something to put on top.

We had a blast Friday night but did not have anyone at the hotel to take our picture before we went to the symphony. My purse was kinda small and I didn't want to take the camera with us later so we had to improvise.

My snazzy hubby!!

Daniel has now become obsessed with taking pictures of my belly...he did it Friday night before the symphony and then Saturday night before we went to Jon and Mandy's for dinner...It is definitely starting to poke out there. I was a few days shy of 22 weeks when these were all taken. Not my favorite pics but I guess they are part of history, huh!?!

Now on to Christmas!!

Date Night

I am so excited about tomorrow night!

A few weeks ago, Daniel and I decided we were going to go to the Christmas program at the Dallas Symphony. We have been twice before and we have tickets for tomorrow night. We decided to plan on getting a little dressed up and going to dinner before the Symphony.

When I got home from work last night, Dan handed me two pieces of paper and told me to "see if this would work."

He had made reservations for dinner at Riccardi's and then a room at the Hyatt downtown. What a sweetie!! I am really looking forward to an evening away for just the two of us in the middle of the holiday season bustle.

I can't wait!

(Of course, in true frugal Dan fashion, he got the hotel room off of Priceline and then found a $25 gift certificate for the restaurant on sale for $5...I'm not complaining...I get a fun night out and he gets to save money!)

What a difference a year makes....

Sorry I have been MIA for a while....we have been super busy at work. I come home from work, eat dinner, get my stuff ready to go to the gym the next day, and then crash!! I keep thinking about all of the things I want to post about, but then I go to sleep instead. We are getting into a better routine at work so hopefully that will improve. :)

Daniel and I were talking yesterday about how much can totally change in a year. This time last year, I could barely move because we had finished running the White Rock Marathon, we didn't have a Christmas tree because we were still living in our little apartment, and I only put up a few decorations.

When we had this conversation, we were sitting in front of the fire burning in the fireplace, looking at our newly decorated Christmas tree (I will post a picture and more about that later...it looks great), and talking about the fact that we will be chasing a little crawler this time next year.

I love waiting to see what God has in store for us next....

The verdict is in..

ITS A GIRL!!!

We are definitely having a girl and we are soooo excited. We left the sono/dr's appointment and went to straight to Babies R Us to pick out something pink. I could have bought a lot more but we left with only one outfit. We can't wait to meet her.

Now if she only had a name.....

Back to Work

It sure was hard to get up and go back to work today! I love the holidays!!

We had a great Thanksgiving with both sides of the family. I enjoyed all of it so much, and the food was delicious!! I only wish my hubby could have had as much time off as I did. (He had to work on Thursday and Sunday)

Now on to the drama of Sunday....

As I said before, Daniel was working on Sunday. After church, all of his family was meeting at his brother, David's, house for lunch. When I started the car, the fuel light came on and then went right back off. I looked at the gauge that tells you how many miles you have to empty and it said I had 68 (or something like that). Anyway, I decided it would be easier to drive to David's and get gas as I was leaving...I probably should have rethought that decisions.

I ran out of gas on the Dallas North Tollway.

I barely made it over to the side of the road (but not far enough for my comfort - people were still taking the exit fairly fast) and calmly called Daniel's brother Jon (who was just an exit ahead of me) and told him that I had run out of gas. He assured me that he would be right there.

I promptly called Daniel and work and burst into tears. He told me to call Jon, which I had already done. The poor guy was then trying to reassure me that people do this all the time, but all I could think about was how stupid I felt for running out of gas! (In my defense, the gas light never did come back on...we will have to get that checked). Dan is trying to calm me down and all I can do is cry about the fact I am almost 5 months pregnant, sitting on the side of the road, out of gas.

Jon and Mandy came and were actually there within 5 minutes. Jon had already called Michael who was on his way with a gas can. He told me to get in with Mandy and he would wait for Michael. Mandy and I took off to David's while the guys took care of the rest.

Thank goodness Daniel has such great brothers and that they were so close!!

The whole ordeal only last 20 minutes or so, but it felt like forever!! I wonder what my reaction would have been if I hadn't been pregnant? (I still probably would have cried...I seem to be an emotional person :)

A Snowy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I am at my Gran's house in Snyder with all of my family while Daniel is at work. I woke up at 5:45 and it was sleeting a little. After a little while of just cloudy skies, it started SNOWING!! It has been snowing now for almost 5-6 hours and it is coming down fairly heavy. An hour ago, my dad measured the snow outside at 2-3/4 inches, and it has been snowing even more since then. We have to be over three inches by now! We are having so much fun with all the family.

Hope you are all enjoying your day as well!!

He did good!

I wasn't keeping you all in suspense for spite.... He didn't let me open it until tonight! I guess he wanted to be home when I opened it....:)

Daniel bought me three full place settings of my china. (He did not buy it from Lenox so he got a much better deal)

I love this pattern and I knew when I got married that I would not have very much to start. I just wanted to get at least one or two plates so that I would then be required to buy more.

I did get a little more than one or two plates but I still only had enough for two full place settings and then some other random pieces. My mom has added to "my collection" the last two years at Christmas but I was really wanting enough to have people over and actually use the good plates!

So now the official count is five full place settings plus some extras....I am definitely getting there!

He did soooo good...and all my himself too...I can't stop smiling!!

Birthday Surprise

There was a box delivered to our front door today that I am dying to open....

My birthday was almost 6 weeks ago. Probably a month before my birthday, Daniel mentioned that he had found my present on the internet and ordered it. He seemed so excited about the fact that he had taken care of everything early.

I LOVE surprises but I hate waiting to find out what they are...they just drive me crazy and I am always trying to guess! I am so impatient when it comes to that sort of thing. Dan would make comments here and there about my b-day present coming, but it never showed up. I came home from work one day around my birthday and he said that they were having some shipping issues and my present might be a little late. I was okay with that.

Fast forward to last week, Daniel casually mentions that they lady he had bought my present from on e-bay had seemed to disappear with over 20 people's money. PayPal was not able to refund the money...he was quite disappointed and then I felt bad for all of the times I made a comment about not having a b-day present (it wasn't that often, but you just have to give the guy a hard time every now and again :) He then goes on to say that he has found the same gift on Amazon and it should be here soon.

Well, soon appears to be today. There is a box with a smile on the side right inside my front door. Dan is at work and told me that I am "allowed to look at the outside of the box but that's it"

He's laughing because he thinks I have built this up in my head. I really haven't...I just love surprises and can't wait to find out what is inside the box! And this year, I have absolutely NO idea what he got.

I'll keep you posted.....

Random Thoughts on the Holiday Season

I am so excited about Thanksgiving!

I love getting to spend time with family and eat all the great food. I am especially excited about the food this year - so far throughout this pregnancy I have really tried to pay attention to what and how much I am eating, but for Thanksgiving, I think I will officially be eating for two!!

It is so much fun to have time to sit and talk to family members that you don't get to see on a regular basis and I am a little excited about the possibility of a cooler day....it may actually seem like fall!

I also love how Thanksgiving just kicks off the Holiday season....so much more to come!

Bedroom Pictures

I have been promising these for a while and am just now getting them up...sorry! I love the way our bedroom has turned out and Daniel did an excellent job painting. It really looks professional! The color in the pictures is a little off for some reason. The bedding is really a green color and the walls are a mocha brown. Now we just need to get something for the walls!

Pregnancy induced road rage?

Being in the medical field, I know all about pregnancy induced hypertension, gestational diabetes, and pre-eclampsia/eclampsia.

The thing I am now discovering is pregnancy induced road rage. I used to be a fairly patient driver. I would always laugh at Dan when he would get frustrated at the drivers in front of him. Now he is the one laughing at me! It is all I can do to not cuss at anyone who happens to do something I think they shouldn't...and that is NOT me.

Please tell me this goes away when the baby comes!

McD's and treadmills?

I was at the gym this morning and saw one of the more interesting things I have seen there.

As I was walking on the treadmill, I saw a lady walk in with her gym bag on one arm and a McDonald's bag in the other. I guess I thought she was going to eat after she worked out. But then I saw her again on the treadmill with a cup of coffee in one hand and a hashbrown in the other. How do you walk on a treadmill and drink hot coffee at the same time? Or for that matter, why?

I would just stay home in bed!

My sister's baby

Amy and Charlie are having a GIRL!!

We are all so excited...I think I will die of anticipation before our turn on the 30th!!

16 weeks (almost)

I went to the doctor on Friday and so far, so good! He said that everything is going well.

Daniel and I can't wait until Nov 30 when we get to have our next sonogram. We will be far enough along then that we can find out for sure what we are having....as long as the baby cooperates!

My sister and her husband go on Tuesday for their 'big sono'. I can't wait for that either!

This is so much fun!!

Daniel's Dinner Party

For Daniel's birthday (which was actually three weeks ago), he wanted to have several of his friends over for a gourmet dinner. His brother Jon and Jon's brother-in-law Josh are quite the chefs so they got roped in to doing most of the cooking. Not only do they enjoy it, but they are really good!

Dinner preparations began hours before the actual event but I think they were all having fun. Dan made quite the sous chef.

My kitchen will never be the same!

Mandy came early to help me get everything set up. We were also in charge of printing the menus. I think our table turned out really pretty!




I did not take any other pictures of the guests -Sorry!

And now for the food...

I did not get a picture of the appetizer which was homemade pizza...yummy!

Insalate - prosciutto and goat cheese bruschetta with spinach salad and balsamic dressing


Primi -Lump crab and shrimp stuffed ravioli with tomato basil cream sauce




Secondi - Filet mignon with red wine sauce and family style spaghetti



And my favorite, dolci - chocolate gelato with fresh berries and chocolate ganache


It took us a while to clean up but we had a blast and I can't wait to have people over again!

Wardrobe malfunction

I have to share a funny story about my day yesterday...

I always decide what to wear to work before going to bed and then put it in the car to take to the gym. When I got dressed yesterday morning, I noticed a small tear in my shirt just above and left of my chest. It was on a stripe and was not too noticeable unless I moved in a certain direction. I decided to put a piece of tape on the inside to hold it together so it would not tear anymore until I could get it fixed.

After I got to work and before I could fix the shirt, I noticed a few more small tears next to the larger one. It looked like the shirt was just disintegrating - and it is only a few years old!

I took my jacket off and reached back to pull the back of my shirt down and my hand went all the way through my shirt and it ripped all the way up to my shoulder. The weird thing about itis that none of the tears were on seams or anything!

Luckily, Daniel was at home (although he was still sleeping) when I called in a panic and brought me a new shirt within 20 minutes. What a sweetie!

What in the world happened to my shirt?!?

Mercy's Birthday

Yesterday was Mercy's 13th birthday...wow!! After church services, we all went to Spring Creek Barbeque (our somewhat normal Sunday lunch haunt) for a little lunchtime celebration. Suzanne made the cutest cake, which Mercy loved!! She is all about fire engines right now...I wonder why? :)




JD got a little hungry while we were all eating so Dan got in a little practice for our little one. Doesn't he look like he is doing a great job?!?

We ended the celebration with a trip to the State Fair of Texas. I had never been before and was amazed at everything that goes on...it's crazy! I took my camera into the fair but then forgot to take pictures. Real smart I know.

Hope that everyone else had a great Sunday!!

All in a day's work

Dan is working today and I just got back from having dinner with him and the guys at the station. (Yummy food too!)

I love seeing them all at work. They have such a unique friendship...I laughed the whole time we were eating. I like getting to see them like that...I know that they really do have fun together while they are waiting for an "emergency" to happen.

We had just finished dinner when the tones went off and they were called out to help a lady with a medical emergency. The switch they make from laughing and cutting up to completely serious about their job always amazes me.

I hopped on the engine with Daniel and away we went. I love riding in the fire engine when he is driving. I feel like I really get to see him in his element. He is so good at what he does and our baby got to have its first fire engine ride....even if it was in utero!

In the end, the lady really did not have an emergency....she was just a little (read a lot) tipsy and had fallen over while walking in a ditch (?!?). She hadn't even been able to tell the dispatcher exactly where she was located so the medic went one way and the engine went another. It took a good while to finally find her! We all loaded back up into the engine and the ambulance, the policeman got in his car, and we all went home.

By the time we were back at the station, the talk was back to what movie to start and who was going to have to do the dishes...I guess that was nothing unusual to them...All in a day's work!

(I have a really good picture of Dan and the guys he works with, but blogger is not letting me post...maybe later!)

Lights Out....again!?!

So I was going to try to scan the sono pics at work yesterday but, when I arrived, we had no electricity! We did not think too much about it at the time because of the deluge outside, but even after the rain let up, the lights did not come back on. My office manager called the electric company and they said they would try to have it all fixed by noon.

We still had patients coming in and we had a similiar experience a few months ago and just worked in the rooms with windows. We were so glad that the patients (well, most of them) were understanding about the things that we could and couldnot do. We tried to keep it to mostly sick visits and not too many physicals.

Noon came and went and still no lights. When we called back at 2:30, they told us the electricity was supposed to be back on at noon...haha, very funny! At least it was nice and cool out, so with the windows and the doors open, it did not get too hot.

Half of the office ended up going home and the rest of us stayed for the people that were dropping by when they could not reach us on the phone (somehow our phone system is tied into the electricity).

By the time I left at 4:45, it was still off, and they do not have a clue why....they told us not to expect too much today either.

Should be fun! :)

Quick Update

Sorry I haven't updated in the last week...time just slipped away!

Our sonogram on Friday was great! It is so weird to think that there is actually a living being inside of me...I'm sure it might get a little more real once I start to feel the baby move. I tried to scan the pictures but there is something wrong with our scanner. I will try to take a picture of them and post them later. The Doctor who did the sono said he had a really good idea of what we are having, but we are going to wait until we know a little more certainly before we really start spreading the news. I mean, He even said we were still kinda early to know for sure!

Hope that everyone has a great day!!

04/22/08

Now that both families and the boss have been told, I can announce it to the rest of the world...

Daniel and I are expecting a new arrival in our family sometime around April 22, 2008.

We are both VERY excited and so are our families. I have kind of slacked on the blog recently just because I have been so tired. There have been a few days in a row recently where I have not even walked into the study to get on the computer.

I am sure that now I can fully share, you will all get tired of pregnancy/baby talk. We have a sonogram on Friday so I will try to post a picture if I can...

We can't wait!!

Dan the Vacuum Cleaner Man

Here are the promised pics of all of the vacuum cleaners in my garage. Daniel was hard at work yesterday and actually got two of them working again and ready to go!

New Bed

Our new bed is here!!

I can't remember if I had posted the story about this whole fiasco earlier or not, but, finally, after almost three months of waiting, our new bedroom suite is here!!

I am so excited and it looks great. All the girls at work had given us a gift card to Bed, Bath, & Beyond for a housewarming gift so we used that to buy a new comforter, etc. We are working on getting everything put together just right.

Pics coming soon! (If I ever remember to take them!! )

No update on the vacuum cleaner business as of yet, but I will keep you posted :)

Vacuum Cleaners

I can't believe I haven't posted about this before...

My husband, the entrepreneur, has now entered the vacuum cleaner business.

Daniel found an auction website were you can bid on lots of a huge variety of items. He bid on several different things but ended up buying around 40 vacuums for less than $10 each. The lot has a couple of almost every brand you can think of - Dyson, Eureka, Bissell, etc. - and also has a few steam cleaners. They are all vacuums that had been returned to the manufacturer for one reason or another and need a little work. Some of them are as easy to fix as making them stand up on their own without falling over, while others are going to take more time. I didn't even know that he knew how to fix a vacuum cleaner!!

He has great plans about then selling the repaired vacuums on Ebay, Craigslist, etc. We shall see!!

Of course, I tried to claim one of the easier to fix vacuums so that I could have one upstairs and one downstairs - but my sweet husband told me I would have to wait. He wasn't sure how much he wanted to charge for each vacuum....He's going to make ME pay HIM in CASH!! He says this is the beginning of a 'beautiful retirement.' Big dreams, huh?

He is too funny - I laugh every time I think about this latest venture. If he didn't love his job so much and do such a great job at it, I would try to convince him to go into his own business of some kind. I am trying not to be too skeptical about the whole thing. I just want to know when I get part of my garage back! I guess it is a good thing we went for the 3rd car option....

I'll post a picture soon...

Self Evaluation

I spent last evening filling out my yearly evaluation for work. I HATE doing those type of things. They always have questions about your strengths and weaknesses and I feel like I am trying to always find ways to brag about myself in the answers. Daniel says I have to make him 'realize how important' I am. :) I guess you do want to make your self sound good so maybe you can talk the boss into a raise, but it sure is hard to answer all the questions.

What is it about self-evalutions that are always so difficult?

Cookouts, Canoeing, and...Locksmiths?

Dan and I had a very eventful day yesterday. Dan's brother David and his wife Suzanne camped out over the weekend at Lake Ray Roberts. Daniel had to work for part of the weekend so we did not camp with them, but yesterday afternoon, Daniel and I, along with Jon, Mandy, and JD drove up to join them for the rest of the day.

We had a lot of fun just hanging out for the afternoon. David and Suzanne had rented a canoe from the campground so we all took turns taking it out for a ride. The water was very nice and peaceful, and as long as the girls could keep their husbands from splashing them with the paddle, it was very calm on the lake. :) (Of course, we all ended up splashing back).

We ended the day with steaks and potatoes and smores cooked over the campfire. It was a great meal! After dinner, we all left David and Suzanne to their tent while we drove back home.

As soon as we started unloading stuff at our house from Jon and Mandy's car, Dan and I realized we had left the house completely locked up without anyway of getting back inside. When we had left earlier, Daniel had locked all the doors and then run out of the garage and ducked under the closing door. Neither one of us had any keys or garage door openers with us. The spare key that we usually keep outside was not in its place either....I had given it to my cousin's husband last weekend and had not put it back.

After thirty minutes of me and Mandy standing outside with JD, the guys determined that none of the windows would open, the attic vents were too small to crawl through, and all of the doors, were indeed locked. Do you know how hard it is to find a locksmith on Saturday night? I did not have a CLUE that it would be that difficult! Once we knew that there was somebody on the way, we sent Jon and Mandy home with JD and we made ourselves comfy on the front porch. Good thing we had taken chairs with us up to the lake!

It was almost midnight before the locksmith showed up and let us in our house...he had a little difficulty picking the locks. (In the end, that makes me feel really safe, considering how hard it was for us to break into our house). We spent three hours sitting in our driveway from the time we arrived until we were back inside. Trust me, we will not be making that mistake again!!

What an eventful evening!

Oh, and just for future reference, locksmith's at midnight on a Sat night are a quite pricey and only take cash, which we typically never have...good thing we went to the ATM yesterday!!

Beautiful Day

What an absolutely gorgeous day!! I was really wishing that I could have been outside a lot more during most of the day, or at least, that my office had more windows!!

I love it when the weather changes and we get to see God's glory in a new (different) way.

What an awesome God we serve!!

Cousin Weekend

For four years, my sister and three of our cousins all lived in the same town. In the summers, they would have "cousin dinner" once a week at someone's house or a restaurant. It was really just a time for them to all get together and eat. Of course, I was living here at the time, and I think that they called me every week to talk about what I was missing out on.

Well this weekend, my cousin Leslye and her husband Joey, came to spend the weekend with us. Well, actually, Joey works as the sports information director for Tarleton State University and had to go to the football game on Saturday in Oklahoma. They came to spend the night at our house on Friday night, before he went to the game on Saturday. Daniel had to work on Sat. so Leslye and I had our own cousin weekend.

We had so much fun! We lounged around the house Sat morning, went shopping, spent some time at the pool, and then ended the day at church at the M&M Mom's were my mother-in-law was the speaker. It was a great day!

They were able to go to church with us on Sunday morning and then came back to the house for most of the afternoon. I was so glad they were able to come.

I just wish we had remembered to call all of my other cousins and tell them what they were missing out on!! :)

Slowing Down

I was looking back at my most recent posts and realized how much further apart all of my posts have been getting. I guess the craziness of our summer is finally slowing down! Yeah!

It is nice to be back into a normal routine. It is fun to always have things planned and new things to do, but that can also be so tiring! I love having the weekends to recover from the busy work week instead of the other way around. Of course, after a couple of more weeks of normalcy, I am sure I will be ready for something new!

In other news, I haven't told everyone that my sister is expecting a baby! She is due around the end of March/beginning of April and everyone is soooo excited. My parents do not have any grandkids yet so you know they are over the moon. We have finally been given permission to share the news. Congrats to Amy and Charlie!!

Mamaw Update

Daniel's grandmother is improving...thanks for all the prayers! Here is another update from Gerry...

I spent a couple of hours with Mamaw this afternoon. We talked almost thewhole time and then she ate supper of salad, meat, beans, cooked carrots andpie. She has made a tremendous amount of progress since last week. Thank you for your prayers and keep remembering to pray!

Song Leader Revolution

My friend Julie sent me this link...you church of Christer's will probably enjoy this!! :)

Check this out...

This is a very funny link...I have never taken 6 kids to the grocery store, but I am sure some of you have similar stories!! (The link is to the description of the e-bay item....)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130144061675&ru=http%25

Daniel's Grandmother

Daniel's Grandmother (the one who broke her hip a few weeks ago) had a stroke on Sunday. Gerry, Ouida, and Mercy are all in Arkansas at the hospital. Here is an excerpt for an e-mail Gerry sent yesterday. Please keep everyone in your prayers...

Mamaw can communicate some and, with Jennifer's help, was able to take a few steps today. But, she seems to be on a roller coaster with lots of ups and downs. Ouida is spending nights with her. Sarah has been a big help with various little problems that we didn't know how to handle such as turning off the pulse beeper and putting a humidifier on the oxygen so that Mamaw's nasal passages wouldn't get irritated from the drying effect of the oxygen. In the evenings, Mamaw has been having some rising temperature which may mean an infection somewhere. She seems really frail and weak. Pray that God would give her rich blessings, that she would feel blessed and that she will sense her family's love.

Birthday Bash

Last night the whole family (almost - Sarah and Hannah couldn't come) congregated at Jon and Mandy's house for dinner and cake celebrating Daniel's parents birthdays. His dad's birthday was the end of July and his mom's was this week. We had such a good time! J and M and made a chicken dish that was great and Suzanne and I brought different salads. We then got to have cake and ice cream while we watched a video that Solomon had made about them...it was a lot of fun!

Happy Birthday Gerry and Ouida!!

What!!

Did anybody else happen to see this story on CNN.com this morning? Wow!

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- A Japanese biker failed to notice his leg had been severed below the knee when he hit a safety barrier, and rode on for 2 km (1.2 miles), leaving a friend to pick up the missing limb.
The 54-year-old office worker was out on his motorcycle with a group of friends in the city of Hamamatsu, west of Tokyo, on Monday, when he was unable to negotiate a curve in the road and bumped into the central barrier, the Mainichi Shimbun said.
He felt excruciating pain, but did not notice that his right leg was missing until he stopped at the next junction, the paper quoted local police as saying.
The man and his leg were taken to hospital, but the limb had been crushed in the collision, the paper said.

Officially Summer

It was really hard to for me to think that it was summer when it was raining every day in June and most of July - it just wasnot the normal Texas Summer Weather. Although I liked the rain at first, I found myself silently wishing for more hot, sunny days that I could spend at the pool. What was I thinking!!!

Now that it has officially gotten to the triple digits and there is no rain in sight, I am longing for a little relief from the heat. It has almost gotten too hot to go to the pool! There is a community pool two blocks from our house that is soooo nice. (The kiddie pool is where we took the pictures on my previous post). Today was just too hot to even think about going out there. I was afraid I would start sweating as soon as I walked outside of my garage!

Too bad we are never satisfied!!

Update on Daniel's grandmother

Daniel's grandmother is doing much better! Thanks for all the prayers!

Ouida was able to come home yesterday and Mamaw is working hard at rehab. She will remain inpatient for probably another week or so and then be released.

Praise God!!

Happy Birthday, Gran!

We had such a fun weekend! It started early on Friday when the family that was already here took a trip to Sam Moon. I met up with them after work and then we went to Ikea before spending the rest of the afternoon swimming at my community pool. All of the cousins enjoyed acting like little kids while we played in the kiddie pool area.



My brother-in-law called on Friday before getting on the plane to fly here to tell my sister that he had gotten a promotion at work. We decided to have an impromptu congratulatory party - complete withcake, candles, and balloons.



Saturday was filled with shopping at the Allen Outlet Mall before dinner at Buca di Beppo's. We reserved the "Pope's Room" (a large table that all 17 of us were able to sit around with pictures of the Pope, a statue in the center and a large chair that Gran quickly claimed). All the food was ordered family style and we got to try lots of excellent food! My grandmother had a BLAST and really enjoyed everyone singing Happy Birthday.





Everyone left yesterday and now our house seems so quiet! We can't wait to have company again!

(At last count, Gran had received over 115 cards and is still getting more! She hasn't even read someof them because she keeps counting the total! :) )

Party Time

My grandmother (Gran) turns 80 on Sunday. She didnot want a party so instead the family is all going to be here for our own get together!

Gran, Mom, my sister, two aunts, a cousin and her husband all drove in yesterday. Everyone else is coming today. There will be 18 people total when everyone is here. Some of the adults are staying in a hotel, but all the kids (I still think of myself as a kid) are going to be at my house on air mattresses and such. We are going to shop, hang out, swim, go out to eat, etc.

Should be fun! I will post pictures later...

Surgery Update

Sorry I haven't posted anything sooner...

I haven't heard anything recently, but Gerry said the surgery itself went well. Now they are just trying to help her through all the immediate post-op stuff...she was a little disoriented when she woke up.

Thanks for your prayers!!!

Broken Hip

Daniel's grandmother in Arkansas fell and broke her hip yesterday. She is having surgery today to try and fix everything. Please keep her in your prayers as well as Dan's mom, Ouida, as she drives to Arkansas to be with her mom. I will update when I know more.

Baby Shower Surprise

Dan was working today so I took the opportunity to go see my friend Kathleen at her baby shower. Kathleen and I were at A&M together and had a lot of the same classes. We had a certain table at Souper Salad that was our 'study table' for the night before any exams. It is amazing what you can learn while snacking on blueberry bread! She is currently finishing her last year of residency at the med school in Galveston and is expecting her first baby in early September. (Her shower was in her hometown outside of Tyler)

Kathleen and I were great friends and were in each other's weddings. We keep in touch but we haven't been able to physically see each other since she picked us up from the ship we were on for our cruise/honeymoon. It has definitely been toooo looooong!

I didn't tell anyone I was going so it was a lot of fun to walk in the door and surprise her and then it was great to sit and talk for a few hours. I hope I did not monopolize too much of her time! I loved getting to talk with all of her family - her husband, her sister, and her parents....what fun!!

I can't wait to see her again - hopefully before her son goes to kindergarten!!

Finally Friday

I woke up on Monday morning thinking it was Tuesday. Then I woke up on Tuesday thinking it was Thursday. I am not sure where all these days were going but, obviously, the week was not moving fast enough for me! I hate it when that happens because I have been waiting for Friday for three days now.....Glad it is finally here!!

Wedding Weekend #4

Another fun-filled, exciting weekend! I have really grown to love weddings - I think I just enjoy reconnecting with old friends and seeing two people so madly in love with each other join their lives together...makes me weepy!! Now my husband, that's another story!! (haha)

My friend Cari got married on Friday night. I had to miss out on the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner because I could not make it to Lubbock on time. My flight out of Love was delayed and I didnot land until almost 10:30 on Thursday night. (Dan drove up on Friday when he got off work and then we drove home together). Friday morning we had a Bridal Brunch and I got to catch-up on all the festivities! What fun!!

Megan and Leslie and I all went to high school together (with Cari). Leslie lives in Canada now and Megan is about to move to San Antonio from Dallas. Leslie was also a bridesmaid.

Holly went to high school with all of us as well, but she was a year older. She is holding her son, Corbin, as Cari watches.

Lots of chatting going on at the brunch!!

We were setting up partitions to make a room for Cari and all of the bridesmaids to get ready. My sister broke one of the dividers and Cari's dad and brother had to come fix it.

Cari was definitely pampered - she looked beautiful!!

Cari, Leslie, and I were the three of the four people our age in our youth group at church. (Poor Mark was the only boy...)

Holly and I - all of the bridesmaids were asked to pick out a black dress to wear. We were all pleasantly surprised at how well they all went together. We all had our own style but a lot were somewhat similar. They all ended up being knee length as well - how is that for coincidence!! It looked GREAT!!

Me, my Mom, and my sister

Me and my Gran during the reception

Dan and I with the happy couple - Congrats to Jeremy and Cari!!

We were definitely glad to get home. Daniel is really glad that our wedding filled summer is now officially over - unless someone else surprises us and gets one in quick!!