Gross!

Today, while at work, I was searching for a cute VBS snack online that I had seen in a recent Oriental Trading catalog. Since our theme this year is SURFERS' PARADISE I wanted something "beach-y". They had gummy flip flops that said "Walking With Jesus" on the wrapper. Perfect! Well, I went to orientaltrading.com and searched flip flops and a ton of things came up. I narrowed my search to gummy candy and quite a few came up but I started to look through them. Here's what I found....
"Chili Fingers Candy Bowls. Two mixed-fruit gummy fingers float in a sea of sour strawberry-flavored faux “blood”. (2 fingers and 1 pack liquid candy per bowl) Fat-free."

Seriously, who buys this crap? I guess we have Wendy's to thank for this one. Shame on you, Oriental Trading!

Who's that good lookin' girl in that shiny new car?

It's my MOM! After weeks and weeks and weeks of car shopping we finally found the right car for her. She decided to buy a Chevy HHR. It's cardinal red and she looks great in it! She's so excited and I'm so happy for her. She deserves it! We started out at 9am yesterday morning and looked at a ton of cars in total. Our search began way back in October at the San Antonio car show. By 7:30 pm she was done signing her life away and we were on our way in her new ride. Nathan and Daniel both did their homework in helping my mom choose her car. Nathan is quite the deal maker and made sure she got the best deal possible. He sure does love his mom in law!!

Here she is signing! Nathan looks happy, huh?

The new owner posing for one of many pictures.
Here she is with her saleslady learning about all the buttons and controls Her favorite feature is the remote start. That will be so nice on these hot summer days when she leaves work for the day.

Enjoy your new car, Mom!!

Happy Birthday, Jo!

Jo's thirty years old now! Her birthday was Monday, the 18th. She celebrated it in Mexico with a girls trip to Cancun. I couldn't go because of work but Nathan and I drove to Houston on Friday to celebrate with her at her second birthday party. A friend of hers has a house in Clearlake right on the water and has a 40ft sail boat. We rented a Chrysler Sebring convertible for fun and drove to Houston feeling free and refreshed. We arrived to Alex's house and met everyone and had some drinks. We set sail about 7:30.


The boat was awesome and the weather was great. It was a little overcast and the wind was on the strong side. We sailed for about an hour and half. I think there were 22 of us on the boat. We had a full bar and sandwiches for the trip.





Traci came and it was great to see her. I hadn't seen her since Jo and I went to meet baby Zachary. She's doing well and Jamin stayed home with the baby so Traci could come out and celebrate.





The boat's name is the Premiere. After we got the tour and learned about Starboard and Port Nathan leaned over to me and said, "Yea, I think we're gonna need one of these"....yeah right! I wonder how much a boat like that costs. I guess we could get one as long as we plan to live on it! It sleeps about 8 comfortably but Alex said he's done 10 before. He races it in various races across the Gulf and even does a race that's over 600 miles. Takes about a week. We asked him if people charter it for trips to Carribean and he said YES!! We're gonna have to look into that.








Nathan got to sail the boat for quite a while. He looks like a pro, huh? He had so much fun! He was able to steer the boat and hold on to his Captain Morgan. Now he's really got sail boat fever.

Here we are back at the house feeling super grimy! The humidity was, well...Houston-humid. We didn't stay long because we drove back that night. It was a fast, fast trip. Short and sweet, thanks to a little thing called work. We shared the driving so it wasn't too bad. Plus, we had Buc-ees to look forward to. I don't know what it is about Buc-ees but Nathan LOVES this super convenient store. I admit that I like pretty well, myself. I love the coffee. They have every flavor of creamer you can think of. They also have little creamer like things which are shots of espresso. Keeps you awake! Once we got home I had a hard time falling asleep.

On Saturday I gave into the fact that this fun convertible wanted me to keep it for one more day so I picked up Joy and we went shopping. I told her what kind of car it was so she thought it would be funny to bring her Celine Dion cd. We jammed out to "I Drove All Night". Gosh- we're dorks. In the evening I watched Savannah for TJ and Rachel. We had such a good time. She's such a precious little girl. We watered plants, blew bubbles, ate dinner and watched Madame Blueberry. She loves that dvd. She went to bed without any problems. After Rachel and TJ came to pick her up it was time for me to say goodbye to my fun car weekend fling. So sad.

A Great Day in Port A

Nathan and I are in Port Aransas with Amy&Mike and Becki&Jim. We left after church on Sunday and will come back home Tuesday night. Amy and Mike have a condo in Port A and they invited us to come and hang out for a few days. Ahhh-it's soooo good to get away for a few days especially after the last few days I've had. Let me bring you up to "speed"...

I've been suffering severe allergies along with sore throat, yucky drainage and all the fun that goes along with it. I finally went to the doctor on Thursday because I had full blown laryngitis and I was out of nasal spray and allegra. He also put me on Predisone (sp?) so I'd get my voice back. Wow. What can I say? I've been a little crazy. I've been a lot to put up with. First, I was just hyper. Now, I can say I think I've reached roid rage stage. I started these steroids on Thursday and by Friday evening I was mowing the lawn (I don't do that) and then by Saturday morning I was mowing some more, fertilizing AND I was cutting that big limb in our front yard, the one that fell in a rain/wind storm, into little pieces and putting the debris into Daniel's truck. I was up until 3 am Sunday morning watching Jana Alayra dance dvd's (Preschool worship music) and I had to wake up at 6 am for work. Best thing was, I wasn't even tired! Maybe I should take these things during VBS!

Amy and Becki are long time friends (AOII) from college. Amy is doing great so thanks to all of you for keeping her in your prayers. The main thing she is suffering from is caused by steroids that she has to take. We've been comparing stories and laughing at our craziness, although what I've dabbled with these past few days doesn't even come close to what she's gone through. You won't see many pictures of her because she won't let us take any with her in them. She's really swollen right now from the steroids but I know soon, when she's off of them, she'll be back to her normal self. Just so you know, she's just as beautiful as ever!

We went out to dinner last night and had some yummy seafood. This morning I got up early with the guys and went fishing. Becki and Amy stayed in and slept late with the kids. We all went to the beach around lunch time and spent the day out there. We had a great, great day!

Another Tag

I forgot that I'd like to tag my friend Lauren! Lauren was in Concordia's youth group my first year working there. I was a leader and served as a chaperon for a couple of her senior year trips. I remember a funny time when we decided to have a girls night and she came over to my apartment to spend the night. We had pizza and watched a movie. It was time for me to take my shower and I left her alone to watch some TV. I was enjoying a relaxing shower when I heard her beating on the bathroom door. I rinsed off, threw a towel around me and went out into the living room to see a huge fog. She wanted some popcorn and didn't follow the rule that says to listen for 2-3 seconds between pops to stop it. All was well. No fire. Just that awful burnt popcorn smell for a few hours.

Tag, Lauren! You need to post 3 random things about yourself!!! Can't wait to read it.

PS- Pastor Ebs burned a bag of popcorn about 2 weeks ago up at work! I thought of you between coughs!!

Brush Collection

It's a great service, isn't it? Brush collection. You feel so great when you get junk out of your house and on your curb, also when you trim trees and rake leaves. Sometimes people drive by and find treasures from your trash. Our entire zip code was having brush collection and Nathan and I just waited and waited for our turn. We'd go outside into our backyard and nervously look at our big tree with the giant split down the middle and pray it wouldn't fall on our house and crush it. Finally, the golden ticket was on our front door! Our brush collection was coming to our street the first week in May!!! Here they are...






Yes, brush collection is awesome except when crap like this happens 2 days AFTER brush collection came....










































We have 2 Arizona Ash (aka fast growing crap trees) trees in our front yard that are probably over 30 years old. Nathan has been wanting to cut them down but they do provide some really nice shade. Well, the other night we had some strong winds and when I opened the door to leave for work in the morning I found this huge limb right in the middle of our front yard. I hope people aren't laughing at us thinking we're big dorks that just missed brush collection.

A whole week!

I didn't realize it's been so long since my last post. A lot has been going on. I've been fighting allergies since Thursday! Sore throat, fatigue....yuck! I came home from work on Thursday and was in bed by 8 thanks to my good friend, Benedryl. I still felt crappy on Friday and on Saturday but I couldn't slow down. There were to many fun things to do this weekend.

Saturday was Mom's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!! WE started with a nice breakfast and then went to San Marcos for some shopping!! We had a great girls day. Mom was actually born on Mother's Day 1942. Every once in a while, her birthday falls back on Mother's Day. I like it when it doesn't because it just gives us an excuse to try and hog her for 2 whole days instead of one.

After shopping, we went to dinner and Clint and Tommy and Christine joined us. By the end of dinner I really felt horrible. My throat was killing me! I went home and went straight to bed thinking I was going to be no good for Sunday morning work but woke up feeling much better. Why is it always like that? At night it always gets worse! Work was great except by the time I finished teaching at 9:30 I had no voice. It was gone. Completely! I spent Mother's Day somewhat silent. I bet Nathan enjoyed that!

We went to see Sylvia for lunch and had a great time. Daniel joined us before he had to go to work. By the time I was going to get my camera out, Daniel had already left! We couldn't take our family picture without him! After we ate we left to head over to my mom's.

Kelly, Clint Ashley, Lacy and Mamo were already there. Nathan and I picked up Rudy's BBQ but we were so full from lunch we didn't really eat. Just a little creamed corn. There's always room for that, right? We stayed until about 7 and then headed over to Granny's to wish her a Happy Mother's Day. We had a nice visit even though I had no voice. She's so fun to talk to and I hear about so many wonderful stories about Nathan and Daniel growing up.

I've been tagged

I've been tagged by Erica! This is fun. I'm enjoying reading all the random things about everyone. I say "everyone" but I really don't have any of my old girlfriends or family members convinced on this whole blogging thing. They read mine. Occasionally. I wish they would do it! Shannon, Ali, Joy, Kelly, Rachel, Bethany, Becki, Amy! Anyone?!? Come on, do it! I need to tag someone! Plus, I want to stalk you like I do everyone else on my blog list. Just in case you're a little interested in starting your own blog so I can enjoy it for my reading pleasure just go to www.blogspot.com. It's 3 easy steps! Do it!

Okay, three things about me...(oh, yeah, this is what you do when you're tagged. list 3 things about yourself)
1. I am almost BLIND! I have really bad eyesight. My contact prescription is like -5.75. I can't see my glasses or my contact case unless my nose is about 3 inches away from the counter or sink. I have to practically kiss my dresser in order to pick out which perfume to put on. I really want lasik surgery but I've gone for 3 consultations and all say I'm a poor candidate. Ouch! What rejection! I hope technology changes soon so I can have it done. I can have the PKR kind which is supposed to hurt. Bad. I don't like pain. I'm not good with it. So, until then, I'll wait with my glasses in one had and my saline solution in the other.

2. The word favorite really has no value with me. I use it as often as I do "the" and "and". I say it for everything! My favorite restaurant is La Fogata and PF Changs and Paisano's and Paloma Blanca. My favorite movie is Sound of Music and Grease and Gone With the Wind and Wedding Crashers and The Notebook and you get the picture...

3. I love to sing! I love, love, love music. I majored in music. My degree was in choral conducting with a concentration in voice . I enjoyed being in shows all through high school and college. I played "Fiona" in Brigadoon (sophomore in high school). I played "Maria" in West Side Story (senior in high school). In college I was in a lot of operas...Suor Angelica, Street Scene, Gallantry, Pagliacci, The Magic Flute, to name some. Now I sing at church and last summer recorded a cd with 3 friends from church. The cd was kind of a flop. My sister, Kelly, is the president of our fan club. She bought like 15 cd's. What a sweet and supportive sister! Two of my nieces sing along to it and love the songs. I need to get one for my niece, Kelsey. She'd be a fan, too. I think.

Now, I tag Jenny P. Have fun! Can't wait to read hers. I hope she reads mine so she knows she's been tagged. She keeps tabs on about 30 blogs. Seriously, she has a huge list of bloggin' friends.

A Busy Weekend

Friday we had dinner at Kyle and Kristy's for a "Dos De Mayo" party. It's just like "Cinco De Mayo" but only on the 2nd of May. Their house is very cute! Saturday was our Confirmation ceremony. Here's a video of the kids right before their group photo...


After the ceremony I went to the Bohne's house to celebrate Kendall's confirmation. She had a nice pool party with her family and friends. I could only stay a short while. I met Nathan at USAA so we could head downtown to see The Wedding Singer. A friend from work gave us tickets and we had a nice date. The show was funny. Not our favorite show we've seen but we really enjoyed ourselves.

Sunday morning Nathan stayed home and didn't go to church because our incredible neighbor and friend was helping him cut down a Hackberry tree in our backyard. This tree is huge and one of the big limbs hangs over our kitchen and our back porch. Oh, and it also had a huge split down the trunk.


Ken brought over his bucket lift truck and cut it down for us.



Nathan got a little hurt. A branch fell down and hit some PVC pipe and it busted his forehead. He's ok, though.











While he and Ken were slaving away cutting and hauling and bleeding, I was headed to Dallas with Becki, Kaden and Kate. We had planned to go and pay a visit to Shannon and Ali. Kaden and Kate did a great in the car. Kaden just turned 3 and Kate's 8 months. We left around 2pm and made it around 7. We arrived at Ali's house and Bill had grilled fajitas for us. Jeff and Shannon came over, too.

In the morning we took all the kids to Wazoo's, an indoor inflatable play place. We had as much fun as the kids did!




After Wazoo's it was time to part ways for naps. Shannon and I took Joshua home for his nap and then we went shopping for a little while. Ali and Becki came over to Shannon's for dinner. We made homemade pizza. It was so good! Sorry we didn't leave you much, Becki! We didn't know you didn't have your share!

It's hard to believe that we've been friends for about 14 years. It's been a long time since our AOII days. Even though we all don't live in the same city, we still manage to talk on the phone every few days and keep tabs on each other. We're all married and living our busy lives but there's one really important thing we all hold on to...keeping up with our girlfriends. Girls need girls and I'm so thankful for these sweet friends!