Summer With the Kiddos

Well, the kiddos are headed back to Colorado on Tuesday. Their flight is at 7am - and we live 2 hours from the airport... meaning my hubby has to get up at (THE CRACK OF DAWN) 2:30 in the morning to take them. OUCH! That's just painful to think about. I don't function at all, that early in the morning.

It's always sad to see them go home, but I'd by lying if I didn't say that it's always nice to settle back into our normal routine.

This summer, we did all sorts of fun things! In fact, I think I can safely say that we had a very FULL summer.

The first weekend that the kids were here (July 4th weekend), we went out on the lake tubing and cruising with our great friends Jeff & Cristi Atchley. We love you guys - and let me just thank you again for offering to take us out and bringing so many tasty snacks and cool drinks. ♥ ♥ ♥  It was a fabulous way to start the summer!

Here is a video of Tori holding on for dear life while Jeff rips her all over the lake. I should probably mention that she asked for it... no literally - she made it very clear that she wanted to be thrown off. He was just giving her what she wanted. LOL!

I should also mention that my chunky boo-tay crawled into the tube too. I'd never been on one before. Jeff was going half of the speed in the video and I was screaming like my life was in danger. Note to self: tubing = not my thing. On the other hand, I'm glad I tried it - because now I know. HA!

Later that weekend, we took the kids to the drive in movie theater. They'd never been to one! We have a really nice one about 20 minutes away- it's a nice treat and a step back in time - which I'm a sucker for.

We also took the kids to the Great Texas Balloon Glow! I had only been once before - when I was very young. They have balloon races throughout the weekend - but at night - they land them all and fire them up for the thousands in the crowd. WAY. TOO. COOL.

They had Noah's Ark, The Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe, Spider-pig (whose boo-tay is to the left in the picture above), and numerous other specialty hot air balloons. Really cool thing to see, and absolutely no way to fit them all into one picture.

Needless to say, we also spent a majority of our weekends - enjoying the pool. Ya'll, we enjoyed it early in the morning, at high noon, we grilled out with family, we swam in the rain...and for the last week - we've been swimming in the evening after work. Last night - we even headed out there at MIDNIGHT - to float in the pool and watch the stars for the meteor shower that was suppose to occur.

We also ate lots of good food this summer - pizza, hotdogs, hamburgers, cupcakes, cookie cake, ice cream cake, wedding cake, puppy chow, bruschetta, homemade salsa, fresh squeezed juice..... we pigged out this summer... and ya'll - it was so tasty!

A few weeks back, we let the kids build a fort in our living room and had a movie night under the fort. And yesterday, we stayed in our pjs all day long - and had a Lord of the Rings movie marathon! SO. MUCH. FUN.

I also showed Chandler everything there was to know about gardening - and he enjoyed cutting the okras off the plant. (SINCE THAT'S THE ONLY PLANT THAT HAS FRUITED.)

Yep - all in all - it was a fantastic summer - filled with fun, food and movies. I can honestly say that (THIS BEING THE FIRST ACTUAL HOUSE THAT I'VE EVER OWNED) - this has been the best summer I've had in -as long as I can remember...

There really is.. no place like home. ♥

Saving the World from Illiteracy... One Person At a Time!

Ya'll - I work for the best company in the world! Actually, we were voted one of the BEST companies to work for in Texas for the past 2 years straight!

Our company strongly encourages involvement in the community and volunteer work. One of the ways that we do this collectively, is that we participate in the annual Literacy Council of East Texas Spelling Bee - and every year - we go in costume.

In 2011 - we were nerds! "Nerds for Words" was our motto. LOL

In 2012 - we went as the cast from Hee-Haw - but I was on my honeymoon, so I missed it! *sad face*

This year - we went as SUPERheros! And ya'll - we didn't hold back!!

Out of all the characters to choose - I decided to be cheap. It also didn't help that I completely forgot about the event until the day before!

So I rushed home - grabbed a couple pieces of fancy paper from Michaels and a roll of ribbon - and this is what I came up with:

I should probably mention at this point - that the cape material and the mask were provided by the company. Yep - literally - I bought some yellow ribbon for a belt, some black velvet paper for the "Robin" logo - and some sparkly gold paper for the "R" and the belt buckle. Ha!

Now that's what I call creativity in a SNAP! BAM! POW!

There were quite a few people who decided to come as Batman - but yours truly was the one and only Robin. SPLAT! BOOM! And it's a good thing too -- with that many Bat-womans running around - I had a lot of side-kick-in' to do!

I love how creative the people I work with are. We just march to the beat of our own drum... BLESS OUR HEARTS. We don't just impersonate super-heros past.... we create our OWN super-heros! One of my friends came as "Wonder Kat".... and another was "Ms Sparkle".

Dont tell anyone - but we even had the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show up!

And our math team - created their own math superheros - one was a right angle - and she insisted that she was always right. Haha - get it? Another was congruent - and she gawked at being the same size and shape all of her life. LOL. Creative isn't it!?  WE'RE SUCH GEEKS.

Yep - I love us. It's official! I have the greatest teammates - and the best bosses on the planet. I can't wait to see what we come up with for next years Spelling Bee! Toodles!

My FIRST anniversary!

Well ya'll... one year ago today, I married the sweetest, kindest, most thoughtful and caring, loving, forgiving, hardworking and generous man I've ever known. I am so incredibly blessed to wake up next to him every morning. I can't believe that it's been ONE year already!

Our wedding day was so sweet and special. We got married at my good friend Cristi Atchley's house. It was beautiful, intimate and stress free. How many people do you know have stress- free weddings?! I was very blessed. My brother gave me away.

Our cake was "strawberry cheese cake" from a local bakery - strawberry and cream cheese filling. The one bite I got was DE-lish. Yes, I only got one bite of my wedding cake: the bite that my husband fed me. We were too busy trying to get lots of pictures to even think about cake. So one year later, I'm hoping it's just as delicious when the topper thaws and we cut into it tonight after dinner.

I LOVED my wedding invitations so much - I asked the photographer to get a picture of them. I made them myself! The lace, pearls and ribbon were SO beautiful. So proud of how they turned out. They were perfect in every way - and super easy to make!! I'm such a DIY gal.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of our special day:

Jeff (Cristi's husband) carved our initials into one of the trees in their backyard! So sweet! And a perfect prop for pictures!

We even had the perfect get-away car!  My poor husband had to give up his beloved mustang when we bought the house - but you have to admit - it was a smokin' hot car!  Glad we got some pictures of it at our wedding.

Yes - lots of changes in the last year! This morning, I woke up to pancakes made by my sweet husband, made my own orange juice in my brand new juicer, washed and waxed our new vehicles together and swam in our very own pool at our new house! I am so blessed ya'll. It's amazing what a year can do.

Tonight, we're cutting our cake - and toasting Moscato in red solo cups. HA! We're turnin' redneck ya'll! (OUR TOASTING FLUTES ARE STILL PACKED.)

Here's to the next year, and hoping there are lots more successes, a completed house that we can have a party in for our second year anniversary and maybe a munchkin on the way. You never know! It could happen. ;)

P.S. Our cake was AHH-MAZING! So fresh and moist! It should be! I wrapped that bad boy in 3 layers of saran wrap and 2 layers of foil! HA! (WE ALSO FOUND A COUPLE WINE GLASSES INSTEAD OF SOLO CUPS. WE'RE MOVIN' UP IN THE WORLD!)

Heaven on earth..

My sweetheart

Umm...  who am I kidding - this is who we REALLY are.