If we can make it through December...

This has been one of the best Christmas weekends ever! Wednesday evening went with the hubs and some of his friends to the Mule in Commerce...actually had more fun than I expected...Thursday was work, but then we had the Kwanzaa party...So much more different this year. Now instead of all the pregnant ladies there were all these babies! It was crazy! Good times tho :) and then a LOT of us headed out to East Fork. Been a while there too... Lots of dancing and good times. Christmas Eve at Sandi's - Christmas day lunch at Wanda's...then off to Mom's and then to Sandi's again. Today is just cleaning and spending some QT with my husband.
I have so much to be thankful for this year.
Mom has almost fully recovered from her stroke - Clayton avoided serious injury when he dropped his gun and it shot him through the wrist... 1-6 inch plate and 12 screws later he was back at work.
We lost some great people this year too, Larry and my grandmother, to name a few.
It's been a crazy year with its ups and its downs...but I'm thankful for all of it.
Looking very forward to 2011! =)

I heart Christmastime!

Yep...it's already that time. Christmas! I love how everyone gets so much...friendlier :).. The weather has been perfect. Crisp and cold, nice for snuggling.
Since I last wrote a lot has happened. I'm one final away from being a Level 2 student nurse! Take it tomorrow at 1 and then I'm going home to be with my husband for an entire month!! I have to say, I love nursing school. It's a lot of work (hence the reason I haven't posted since September,) but it is pretty awesome. I've made new friends, which I was kind of nervous about. I can't wait to graduate and be a real nurse (one step at a time lol)
I encountered the biggest disappointment of my life, and overcame it. My heart broke...for myself and for the person who disappionted me. But it's slowly been put back together.
Ray Lamontagne was a well needed weekend for me and Joel. Probably the best performance I've been to.... so much emotion. I cried. We ate lots of good food that weekend...after the Ray concert we went to 24 diner and I tasted the best french toast EVER (so glad Mel ordered it). The next day, we had Your Mom's burgers...AMAZING!!! and a cupcake from Hey Cupcake! Spent the evening at the Joshua Radin concert - found a new band that I LOVE...Good Old War. Had some chili at some little place downtown...again...amazing! Spent some good quality time with the Peughs and got to spend a little time with Joe & Cheyenne too!..
Joined Anytime Fitness a couple of weeks ago and have actually been sticking to a routine. Plan on running the 5k in Austin in April ...sooo definitely gotta stick to the routine.
This past weekend was one of the best weekends I've had in a long time...especially since we hardly left the house. We just spent a lot of time together...Sunday morning we skipped church and just stayed in bed...eating cereal and playing with the pups til almost noon. I can't believe how lucky I am to have this man who loves me so much. I thank God everyday for him, and for the relationship we have built.

Okay...that's the end. I have pics to upload...but they have to wait. I should be studying!

Nursing School has begun

Week 4 - So far I love it! I'm exhausted all the time, and never see Joel, but I love it. I will really update maybe this weekend,but this is the short of it.
Otto was born Aug. 31, and he's a doll.
I go to school M, T, W and work R, F, Sat so Sunday really is my day of rest (except when i'm studying...which is all the time)
Joel is switching over to investigation, which means less time on the road and more time at home :)
We are hoping for a vacation to Austin for Thanksgiving (only if I can get that Friday & Saturday off)... and if not, then a vacation during my Christmas break. We will see.
Ray Lamontagne is coming up, November 12 and Lola is getting married November 13.
We moved into a new HOUSE! I love having a house with a yard for the dogs (yes, we have Beans again, and I love it!) But in the first 2 weeks or so we had lived there, we caught 3 mice, killed 1 snake on the porch, the dogs got sprayed by a skunk, and we found out that there had been a murder suicide in our kitchen. BUT we're not leaving! Hopefully we are getting a roommate.

Okay - so workout didn't last long....two nights of running and I came down with some kind of infection so I've had to take a short break. Soon as I'm better I'll be back at it though. Since Joel didn't get to go to West Virginia on our little vacation as planned (duty called for him at work), we managed to get down to Austin for a few days that weekend. Here are a few pictures from the weekend...I somehow managed to not take as many pictures as I would have liked, mostly from the first night...but these will do.

Us on the incredibly long drive..

This one is Joel after getting bored of all my picture taking

All the people on Congress St. bridge awaiting the bats... That we never REALLY saw lol

at.. well, I'm not real sure which bar this was at haha Cheyenne and Joe took us out...we ate at Madam Mam's (fantastic Thai place) and then went for some bar hopping

The four of us having a good time :)

Me & Cheyenne prob had the most fun :)

Although, I think Joel was enjoying himself too haha

Joe was having some fun too ;)

End of the night...Cheyenne's done!

The next day was filled with riding around in the big houses in ATX, yogurt (lots of it...Yoyo's AND Yumi's) some geo-caching where I managed to fall flat on my butt running from a wasp, a little shopping, and some Korea House - which was amazing! Definitely a place to return to. Sunday morning Joel and I went to church with Joe & Cheyenne - it was a HUGE church, but I really enjoyed it. Then just the two of us ate at Chuy's (where our lunch was free b/c they lost our original order ticket) and headed home. It was a pretty dang good weekend and I can't wait to go back. :)

First day of the beginning of a Life change

Tonight - after work - starts me getting real about getting back in shape. Middle school track and p90x are calling my name. and NO MORE pizza! I'm already doing REALLY good on the sodas - usually only 1 a week if even that, but I eat a LOT of junk. So - I'm gonna start packing healthy stuff to snack on at work and drinking a LOT more water. This is kind of my accountability - I'll keep track of my effort. :)

Guadalupe 2010 with Laroo

So. Turns out it was just Lauren and I who went to the river - which was still a FABULOUS time! we had so much fun..drove down on Thursday night, with perfect timing ended up pulling into the parking lot at exactly the same time! Sat up and talked for hours and then slept...and got ready for the river on Friday. Floated - had a little to drink - and had the worst migraine when we got off haha - but we still had a blast. Then Saturday was more float - with a little stomach bug at the end of the day (which lasted through Tuesday!) Sicknesses aside, I had a blast! Here's some pics - totally out of order, but i'm not real good at this adding pictures business.

Lauren and I right before we left to come home. I'm really miserable, but I still had a big smile for her :)

The chairs we spent a LOT of time in on our little front porch.. fun times here!

The front of our cute little cabin - with Laroo taking a pic too haha

Before our second day of the river. Here we're still feeling okay. This is before too much sun.

Me & Jennifer...we happened to meet and have the same birthday... and the same taste in designer shades!! Haha

Our cooler radio - we were pretty bad a- for having this.

Laroo giving the Tech sign. yeah. lol

Before the float got very far underway. that water was FREEZING!

June update

Started nursing school prereqs - drive 3 days a week to tyler for a class that lasts an hour and a half and then drive back to ss for work. Not so much fun - but it'll all pay off.
Can't wait for two weeks - Brooke, Laroo, Shannon & I are headin down to NB to float the river...Then 2 weeks after that my hubs and I are gonna take a little road trip to West Virginia...I can't wait for that even more! I reserved our rooms at a little BNB 7 miles from the town we want to go to - Wheeling. It's a little town we drove through 5 years ago on our way to PA for a wedding. From what I can tell online, there's not much there - but the time of day and lighting made it look beautiful...There will def be pictures from that!

ATX, how I love thee.

Friday afternoon Joel and I drove down to Austin and met Joe Rogan at his house - from there we went to Maudy's where we met Casey, John Wayne and Cheyenne for some dinner. Then we drove out to Nutty Brown's for the Bob show. Nutty Brown's is an AWESOME music venue...it's outdoors :) We had a BLAST there!


We ended up getting back to Joe & Cheyenne's pretty late and went to bed around 2... but had to get up at 6 for the race. Casey, JW, Joel and I headed to downtown Austin for their 5k race...there were SO many people there and the course was pretty nasty with hills. Casey finished 52nd out of over 600 people and Joel finished 229th - I was super proud of both of them. John Wayne didn't do the timed part but he finished not too far behind Joel. We hung out there for a while and then went back to Joe's to get our stuff together for the River. Had lunch at Chic Fil A and then headed on down to Don's Fish Camp for some "toobing" action. It was super fun too! The water was cold, but the sun was shining so we got nice and hot and the water wasn't so bad. All of us ended up with a sunburn of some kind - the boys worse than me b/c i'm smart and put on sunscreen :) After the river we headed to Peugh and Mel's apartment...where we ended up sleeping in our car for a few hours while we waited on them to come home....we mostly didn't mind b/c we were all soo exhausted from the day.
They got home and we went to Trudy's for some very late dinner and then came back and crashed.
Sunday morning Casey and John Wayne headed back to SS and Joel & I went to the mall for lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen - FABULOUS! We did a little shopping, went back to Peugh's place and took Mel for some ice cream at Amy's and then went back to Joe's for a few minutes before heading to Killeen. Got to Fro and LA's house and they took us on a little tour of Ft. Hood and then out for some Sushi. Then we came home and pretty much all crashed.
Today wasn't very eventful... Joel had some work to get done in Killeen and then we headed home. The highlight of the day was stopping in Waco for some Rosa's - which I have missed SO much! I stuffed myself on that stuff! Now - we are home..well I am, Joel's at work again. So i'm about to get off of here and do a little cleaning. My poor husband has a LONG week ahead of him at work so I need to make things as pleasant around here as I can.

Mikah's Bday Party

Sweet Mikah at her party today -


Mikah and Vernon learning to share - not something either really wanted to do!



Is this kid not adorable?!

I can't believe it's been almost a year since I married the love of my life. 8 more days! This has been an amazing year - and I am excited to see what the future holds for us.

Today, he is in ATX practicing the song he'll sing for Holly's wedding - and I am here in SS. And, though I miss him, today's activities should keep me busy.

-Working for another 30 minutes

-Wal-Mart/Bealls for a birthday present for my great niece Mikah's 2nd birthday

-Mikah's party at 5!

i knew this would happen

it's been almost a year and i haven't updated. So far I have successfully updated only 4 times in like 2 years. That's not a very good record...Last I wrote we were in Lubbock - We came back to SS in September. In those few months I have worked at CVS, Memorial Hospital as the staffing coordinator, and now I helped open Cody Drug (my fave of the 3 by FAR). I have been accepted into the BSN program at UT Tyler - I start those classes in August and some pre-req nursing courses in May...suuuuuuuper excited!!