December 31, 2009

December Catch Up & the New Year!

We are back home, and it feels so good! We have been to Amarillo {for a funeral}, Oklahoma, and back to Amarillo over the past three weeks. Whew! Talk about a lot of traveling, but it was well worth it since we were able to spend Christmas with both of our families. However, it's nice to be home after a bunch of traveling. I hope your Christmas was as wonderful as ours!

I have a little bit of catching up to do for the month of December. I don't know about you, but the month of December flew by! I knew it would. Right up until our trip to Oklahoma, I had all of our Christmas gifts {unwrapped} under our tree. Usually wrapping gifts is something I love doing, and most of the time I have the gifts wrapped & placed under the tree weeks before Christmas arrives, but not this year. I was a little behind {or lazy; I'm not sure which}. There were also a few December events I didn't get around to blogging about, so better late then never. Here they are:

We had a birthday this month. Josh turned 26 on December 11th! Shame on me for not blogging about it. The weekend of his birthday was also the weekend of the big Christmas drama at our church, so we didn't get a chance to go out and celebrate. And we still haven't been out to celebrate, but will one of these days, right honey?

Speaking of Josh, I have some really exciting news to share, and I want to take a minute to brag on him. In October, Josh took the BEI Master interpreter certification test. The BEI Master is the highest certification for ASL interpreters in the state of Texas. Well, last week we found out that Josh passed the test! I couldn't be prouder of him.

Yesterday was a pretty exciting day {despite the fact we had a 6 hour drive home}! Josh & I celebrated 3 years of marriage. Can you believe it? I can't! What a wonderful three years it's been. Here are a few pictures of the evening I married my best friend:

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Ahhh! Sweet memories. Oh how I would love to go back to size 6! New years resolution, perhaps?

Guess what?! While we were in Amarillo Noah got his first haircut {more detail & pics on that later}, and oh boy he looks stinkin' cute! Here is a little teaser. You'll see his new do soon!

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The count down begins! 2010 is quickly approaching, and I am really excited about the new year. I've been thinking the past couple of days of some things I would like to accomplish this year. Here goes:

1. Completely give up Dr. Pepper. And yes, I am serious. If you know me, you know giving up Dr. Pepper is no easy task, because I love it! So tonight when the clock strikes 12:00, I say goodbye for good.

2. Potty train little Noah. Well at least start the process of potty training. When do little boys usually potty train anyway?

3. Control my spending on Etsy {haha I already know I'll break this one}.

4. Take a few photography classes to expand my knowledge of photography & my fabulous new camera.

5. Work on my relationship with Josh. We have a wonderful marriage, but things obviously change when kids come into the picture. This year I would like to go on more dates together, and spend more one on one time with each other. I'll admit it right now, since we've lived in Fort Worth, we haven't been on one date.

6. Spend more time meditating on God's word on a daily basis.

What are your New Year's Resolutions? Have you thought about what you would like to accomplish this year?

Before I go, I would like to wish my grandmother, Gigi, a happy birthday!! Hope you have had a wonderful day! We love you, Gigi.

20 minutes until the new year rings in! Happy New Year Everyone!! I pray God's blessings on each one of you this year.


December 28, 2009

I Love You, Stinky Face

I Love You, Stinky Face is one of my favorite books to read to Noah. It is seriously the cutest book ever written.

Ever heard of it? I hadn't until one of my co workers in Amarillo gave it to me before Noah was born.

The story goes...

Mama said, "I love you, my wonderful child." But I had a question.

Mama, what if I were a

Would you still love me then?

"If you were a big, scary ape, I would make your birthday cake out of bananas, and I would tell you, 'I love you, my big scary ape.'"

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But, Mama, but, Mama, what if I were a

and I smelled so bad that my name was Stinky Face?

"Then I'd plunk you in a bubble bath! But if you still smelled stinky, I wouldn't mind. I'd whisper in your ear, 'I love you, Stinky Face.'"

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But, Mama, but, Mama, what if I were an

with big, sharp teeth?

"I'd buy you a bigger toothbrush! And if your throat hurt, I'd look inside your huge mouth. I'd tell you, 'I love you, my dangerous alligator.'"

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But, Mama, what if I were a terrible

"Then I'd make you a mountain of hamburgers to eat! I'd say, 'I love you, my sweet, terrible dinosaur!'"

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But, Mama, but, Mama, what if I were a

with slimy, smelly seaweed hanging from my body?

"Then I would live by the swamp and take care of you always. I'd tell you, 'I love you, my slimy swamp monster!'"

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But, Mama, but, Mama, what if I were a

from Mars, and I ate bugs instead of peanut butter?

"Then I would fill your lunch box with spiders and ants and the tastiest bugs you ever had! And I'd pack a note with all the bugs that said, 'I love you, little greenie. Bon appetit!'"

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But, Mama, but, Mama, what if I were a


"Then I would look right into your one eye and say, 'I love you,' and I would sing to you until your one droopy eyelid finally closed and you fell fast asleep."

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I love you, Mama.

"And I love you, my wonderful child."

P.S. You can buy the book here.

December 26, 2009

Christmas In Oklahoma Continued

I'm back with part two of our Christmas in Oklahoma. If you didn't see the last post click here.

I will never again take as many pictures as I did this past trip. Ok, that's probably a lie. The problem I have is that I want to post all of the pictures, but if I did you would probably go cross eyed from looking at all of them and I would end up with carpel tunnel from all of the uploading and editing. So... I have to pick and choose, and it's so hard! Anyway, here are my favorites of our last day in Oklahoma.

Wednesday morning we celebrated Christmas with my family. But before we opened any presents, we went to Ihop together to eat some breakfast, and it was sooo good.

Every year before we open presents we search for the hidden pickle ornament on the Christmas tree. My mom started this tradition of searching for the pickle a few years ago; it's so much fun. Whoever finds the pickle first gets an extra little gift. Well this year Abby found the pickle {lucky duck} and got a gift card to Target. Didn't you find it first last year?

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Noah opening up his very first stocking. Boy, he's cute.

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I love this picture of Noah & my mom. So sweet.

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Everyone showing off their gifts.

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Noah's favorite gifts were his books & miniature toy cars.

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Samson & Delilah eating their gifts.

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Isn't my new camera bag fabulous?! I love it! It is a handmade camera bag my parents got off of Etsy. Now I have a safe place to store my camera and lenses. Yay!

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Wednesday evening we went over to my Nana's house and had Christmas with all my extended family. We had a wonderful evening full of wonderful food, gifts, and fellowship.

My Aunt Sherri and cousin Madison are amazing. They made all of the desserts you see below. Every. single. one. And they were delicious!!

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Noah got a camo teepee for Christmas from his great grandparents, Nana & Roger. He wasn't real sure of it that evening, but I have a feeling this little teepee will be one of his favorite things to play with over the next couple of years.

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Madison playing a Christmas tune on her flute for us.

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Leave it to Josh & Matt to throw my little baby like a basketball. Noah was loving every minute of it.

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Noah's first grab box experience. Oh, I should probably explain to you what a grab box actually is. It is basically a big box full of wrapped gifts with strings attached to each of them. On each side of the box is a name with several strings taped to the box. Each person, either oldest to youngest or vice-versa, takes turns pulling a string to open up a gift picked out by Nana. We all love the grab box, and look forward to it every Christmas we are with Nana. Thank you Nana for all of the hard work you put into the grab box to make it so very special for all of us. What a blessing to watch Noah experience the grab box this year for the very first time. I know he will grow to love it just like the rest of us.

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Whew! We got though Christmas in Oklahoma. Hope you enjoyed all the pictures. We are leaving for Amarillo tomorrow to celebrate Christmas with Josh's side of the family, so I'll be back with more next week. But don't worry, I'll have a post or two in the mean time.

Have a wonderful night!

December 25, 2009

Christmas in Oklahoma Part 1

I had no idea I took so many pictures. My goodness gracious. I guess it's safe to say I am loving my new camera! We had the best time with my family this past week. We were sad to say goodbye, but were so thankful for the opportunity to go to Oklahoma to see everyone.

Samson & my mother. He has her wrapped around his little paw.

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December 20th was my dad's birthday, so we got to be there to help him celebrate his big day! He got a bunch of golf gear for his birthday since he wants to start playing more. He's set to go now!

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Noah trying to make an escape. Thank goodness for those gates, otherwise we would have been chasing this little guy all over the house.

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Oh Matt, you should have known your face would be displayed for all to see. I sure had a good laugh while I put together this little collage of your crazy faces.

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I love this picture of Noah with Granddad & Mimi. So sweet!

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This is just... funny.

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My parent's dogs babies. These two replaced Matt & Megan when they went off to college.

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Noah loved crawling in Samson & Delilah's cage. Doesn't he look ornery?

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Mom & Dad with their babies. Sweet family picture.

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Noah was pretty excited to find a chair his size.

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While we were in Oklahoma my mom made an appointment at Moliere's Bridal Salon {the place I found my wedding dress} so all the girls could go watch Abby try on wedding dresses. We had so much fun, and guess what, she found the one!! The dress is so Abby. She is going to make a beautiful bride.

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Josh & Matt hanging out.

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Abby & the babies.

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One evening we all went to Brick town for another birthday celebration for my dad. We had many other family members join us that evening; it was so nice seeing everyone again. We went to Chelino's {the best Mexican food in Oklahoma, by far} to eat and had a great time! Here are some pictures of all of us together.

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I'll give your eyes a rest. Haha.

To be continued...