Halloween 2009

We had Halloween at our house this year. I was hoping for some trick-or-treaters now that I had my own house, but that was not the case. We had like 12 the whole night, and half of them were teenagers. We still had fun though. We had a feast for dinner! Everyone brought over something to eat, and it was soooo good! For desert we had Stephanie's dirt - yum, smores, and Rice Krispie treats decorated like pumpkins! We tried to take Aimee trick-or-treating on my street, but it wasn't her favorite thing. There were only like 3 houses with their lights on anyway. We brought over Cody's parents' fire pit to cook smores in, so we sat outside around the fire for a while visiting and having a great time! I didn't get tons of pictures, but I did get a few.

Cody's mom made lots of things - one of them was a monster looking cheeseball .. haha!

Stephanie and Aimee - such a cute angel!

Cody's dad has had this mask for years and scared the mess out of Aimee. He made it look even creepier with his tongue sticking out.. gross.

This is my favorite picture of Katelyn taken a week before Halloween at the pumpkin patch - precious of course!

I think for Halloween, she really wanted to be a rock star. Cody found her like this asleep in the kitchen, singing into her "microphone" and throwing up her rock fist.

My cat was supoosed to be a vampire for Halloween... she didn't really enjoy the costume I got for her.

By the end of the night, she realized she'd rather be a Diet Pepsi for Halloween than a vampire! She was locked away in the laundry room to keep her out of the food, and this is how we found her by the end of the night...

Overall, we had a great night. I wished we would have had more trick-or-treaters because I still have TONS of candy left over. Oh well... more for me! : ) In other news... I got a new job. Starting the week of Thanksgiving, I'll be working at church as an assisstant to the children's minister. It's nice to know that I will have a full time job finally, and I'm looking forward to working there again!

It was Justin's birthday party....

but I didn't take any pictures of him - just Katelyn! She's getting so big and cute and I just love that little girl. Pretty soon I'm going to have to fight off Mimi to get a chance to babysit! So here are my recent pictures of Katelyn.

She was smiling and laughing really big tonight - so cute!

Uncle Cody and Katelyn - they matched!

Looking for ducks

With our beautiful niece!

Welcome Fall!

It's FINALLY here! I have all my stuff out and decorated... I love all the pretty fall colors. I finally have a house where I can put cute little signs in the yard and decorate the porch. So here's a little preview : ) We'll be handing out candy this year, so if you have kids, bring them to my house!

I bought this yard sign during the summer, and I finally get to put it out. Welcome to out house!

Our front porch... I probably should have gotten different color mums, but I like orange.. haha.

My mom bought me this Halloween wreath that I just thought was the cutest!

I'm having trouble with my cat and the decorations though. She already ate one ball off of a candle holder.. she's going to need to be declawed before Christmas for sure! I can just imagine her ripping all of the wrapping paper to shreds and playing with the ornaments... ugh. Maybe she will grow out of that need to play with EVERYTHING by the time December rolls around. But I'm sure she won't.

My Favorite Huge Family

I love to watch 18 Kids and Counting. The first time I ever watched their show was on Christmas day a few years back when I got a new tv. I couldn't stop watching! At that time, there were like 15 kids and she was pregnant again or something. But now... here she is pregnant with #19!!!! What the heck! I'm not at all surprised, but it's just nuts that she's had so many kids. I thought I should vote for the next J name to be Julia since.. well.. you know.. it's a great name and all! But.. then I had a friend mention a better name. I think it fits so much better too... Jeez-Louise!

Autumn!

Well... almost. I can't wait anymore. I'm very tempted to decorate my bakers rack with fall stuff early just because I love it so much. With the bigger house - I need more decorations!! : ) I know Cody probably married me thinking that I would be totally different than his mother who decorates for every season. Well, the more time I spent over at the Beans' house, the more I loved all the pretty decorations. And it's their fault for taking me to Old Town Spring! I can't wait to get my Christmas yard sign from Metals and Petals! I love fall and Christmas. It's all so pretty... if only it would hurry up and come a little quicker!

Yeah, this was a boring post, but I have nothing interesting going on...

She's The Cutest!

Katelyn is finally here! I already love being an aunt. She's just so cute and tiny! She has the cutest cheeks and toes. I could just hold her forever, but I do have to share : ) I just love her!

New Posts!!

There are three new posts below.. check them out! I haven't had the time to just sit around and write about stuff... but nothing that fun has been happening either. I've been busy with Mother's Day Out, VBS, and looking for a job! The job hunt is still going on. I really wish that I'd get a job soon because school starts in less than a month! I'd love to have something - and the sooner the better as far as planning goes! I had an interview yesterday and 2 on Monday. So - hopefully one of those works out! And if not, I'll just keep on looking. Wish me luck!!!

My First Overnight House Guest - Aimee

Tuesday night, Aimee came to stay with us. Casey and Stephanie were working the next morning, so she stayed with me! That night, I planned for us to make some cookies. I saw one of my friends make S'more Cookies, so I got the recipe to make with Aimee.

Aimee did pretty much everything to make these cookies! She measured, mixed, cracked eggs, and formed the dough balls - she's a great baker!

The final product - I made the dough balls too big, but they were still good!

Aimee and my cat became friends really fast. I dug out a toy my dad made for her and Aimee and Bella played for a long time. Bella was enjoying Aimee holding her until I got my camera out and she freaked!The next day, we met Michelle and Carrie and ate lunch! We took Aimee to see the big fire hydrant downtown. She didn't know what one was.. so I looked up a picture on google and this is what I found...Anyway - I think she enjoyed it and was surprised with how big it was!
Mother and daughter...aww! Katelyn's coming soon!!

Quelf!

For my birthday, Cody got me a game called Quelf. It's a lot of fun and makes you do lots of crazy stuff. I saw these pictures on my computer and thought I'd share them! One of my game cards told me to act like a photographer and take pictures of people and say dumb stuff that a photographer would say while at a shoot. And I got to double my next roll if I used a real camera.. so here's what I got!

One of Matthew's cards told him to find an item that wasn't jewelry, and he had to wear it as jewelry...

I don't know what that is...

Goodbye Apartment, Hello House!

Today was our last day to have the apartment. Not that we have even been there recently, but we had to pay for the entire month of July. A while back, I decided to take pictures of the apartment, so if you never saw it - here are a few pictures!

The living room

The kitchen

Our bathroom

We are all moved into our house. We have been for quite a while. The first day we got to go in, both toilets started leaking. It ruined the carpet in our master bathroom, so until we tile it, it's just ugly cement. Recently, the garage door broke - so was another expense to have it repaired. I'm not crazy about being a homeowner since you have to fix everything yourself! But.. it is nice to have a bigger place!

The first thing that HAD to be changed was this wallpaper in the kitchen. As you can see below it was awful. I started to peel some off and started realizing it was 3 layers of wallpaper thick. We got 1 1/2 layers off, put Kilz over it, then textured it! Well... I say we, but I really mean Cody's mom. She was AWESOME, and did it all for us. We helped peel wallpaper, but she did the other stuff. I found a nice shade of green, and we painted! It looks so much better. I love my kitchen. We still have to paint the cabinets though. And that does not sound fun because my kitchen will be a mess again. Oh well, it's worth it to have a beautiful kitchen!

Before:

After:

Our One Year Anniversary

Cody and I just celebrated our one year anniversary! I've had the time of my life with Cody this past year. Married life is the best... I wouldn't trade it for anything!! I'm so glad Cody chose me as his wife, and I'm so glad I get to spend every day with him forever. I love him! : )

I wish I had pictures from our wedding day that were on a cd or something, but I don't. I'll have to scan some. This is about the best picture I have of us from our wedding on the computer and, you can't see our faces! Oh well.... So this is where our married life started - at our church on May 31, 2008.
A year later, we celebrated by eating the top layer of our wedding cake for breakfast! I maybe ate two bites, and Cody ate the icing. It wasn't the best cake ever after a year, but it was fun to follow the tradition!
After lunch, we headed out to Kemah for an evening of fun! We walked around the boardwalk, watched the sailboats, and enjoyed spending time with each other. We had a fabulous meal at Saltgrass. I've never had a better meal from that place - maybe they knew the food needed to be extra special for us! After dinner, I made Cody ride the ferris wheel with me. He's such a great husband : ) I left my camera at home so all I had was my crappy camera on my phone to take pictures of our evening. Here's a picture of us on the ferris wheel at the top.
For our anniversary, I got a charm for my pandora bracelet that I've been wanting ever since I started looking into getting a bracelet. I knew I wanted it for my anniversary gift, so I've been patiently waiting. Now, I finally have my cute little wedding cake charm! I absolutely love it! Thanks, Cody - you are the best husband ever!

Roof Issues

Every day there was a new story about the roof on our soon-to-be new house. First, the little old lady was trying to tell us she wasn't going to give us a new roof anymore because she didn't want to even though she signed a contract saying she would pay for it. Then, they all wanted us to pay half, but we said no. So finally she realized that she had to buy the roof after it failed windstorm inspection. She told her realtor she would put on a new roof, but WOULD NOT upgrade it to a nicer roof if we wanted to pay the difference. She's so stubborn. So, that ticked me off at first, but then Cody and I decided that we'll just take the regular roof and not annoy her about wanting to upgrade anyway.

The next day, our realtor called and said, "It's your lucky day!" The roof company didn't have enough shingles in old type of roof to cover the house, and that if we'd write a $400 check at that very moment, we'd get to upgrade to the architectural roof. I said of course because it wasn't that much to pay for a higher quality roof. So, I run to my realtor's office to give her the check. Then 10 minutes later, I get a call saying they quoted the little old lady wrong. It's not going to be a $400 upgrade, but now it's $950. I was going to have to pay $550 more.... and I said no. We didn't want to pay that much more out of pocket. So at that point we just dealt with the fact that we were getting the regular composition roof. Not even 3 minutes later, my realtor called and said she'd pay the extra for us to get the better roof because we were really good clients that were easy to deal with. How awesome is that? So now, we are getting a brand new architectural roof for only $400! I'm still shocked that she did that for us... what a blessing!! We've been through so much drama with this is old lady, and it's almost over! I can't wait to move in!!!

Here's a picture of our pretty new roof being put on!

Nasty New Wallpaper

I just found out that the tacky wallpaper that is in the kitchen at "our" house is new! Who would hang that ugly stuff? (Pictures below) Seriously, they should have just asked us before they wasted their time because it's coming right back down. I can't wait until it's mine to paint and stuff.. I'm so thrilled!!

New House... Hopefully!!

On Saturday, we made an offer on a house, and about 10 minutes later we got a call that she accepted! If everything goes well and everything is great with the inspection, this house will be ours!! I'm so excited about it! I don't know why I didn't take any pcitures, but here's some I got from the internet.

The front

The front door and entry way

The kitchen - we will definitely be doing something about that wallpaper!
The breakfast area in the kitchen
The living room
The HUGE master bedroom.... wait until you see the closet. It's so big!

So.. that's our little house! I can't wait until all of this is over and we can move in!

Our New Addition to the Family

On Friday, we got a new family member! My mom was at school (Ozen) giving the TAKS test, and she could hear a cat meowing somewhere. So, she finally found where it was coming from - a locker! Some stupid kid brought a 3 week old kitten to school and locked it in a locker. She went to get the janitor, and they busted the lock and got her out. My mom brought her home and said me and Cody could have her. But... we can't have her unless we want to pay a pet deposit here at the apartment, so she's living at my parents' house right now. Which is great because she hasn't mastered the litter box thing yet! : ) We went over tonight for hamburgers and to visit our new baby, Bella Bean!

The Beans

Bella's first bath... she wasn't very excited about it!
Our little cutie!
In my brother's old bootBELLA!

She's so tiny right now... I do not want her to grow!!

House Hunters

Cody and I got pre-approved for a home loan! Pretty soon we will begin our search for the perfect house! I'm so excited!! So, by July 31st (when our lease is up) we should have a new house! I cannot wait!

It's been a while since my last update... not too much has been going on though. I did get a temporary job in Lumberton as a 5th grade reading TAKS remediation teacher. I work with another lady, and we are trying to get the students to pass their test the second time around which is next Wednesday. I hope they do well!! I'm also currently looking for a job for the fall. It's more difficult than I thought, but hopefully it will all work out.

Now for a cute picture to end with... this was taken at Granny's house when Cody and Logan first met!

IT'S A GIRL!!

We are so excited for Carrie and Justin! Katelyn Rose - such a pretty name for our pretty niece. I've already begun my duties as an aunt by spoiling her with a pink outfit! August needs to come a little bit quicker so I can see that precious baby!! Love you guys!!!

Houston Rodeo

Yesterday, Cody and I went to the Houston Rodeo to see Brad Paisley. We didn't buy tickets beforehand because I didn't really know if I wanted to go yet. But by the end of the week, we needed a change of scenery and decided to go. You couldn't buy tickets online anymore, so we drove out anyway hoping to get tickets at the gate. We paid for parking and FROZE out butts off walking to the gate! It was sooooo cold, and it was starting to sprinkle on us. We definitely didn't pack our suitcases on Sunday for this kind of weather. At least we brought a jacket, but it wasn't warm enough! Once we got the gate, they had tickets!! I was excited. We headed straight for the exhibit stuff because it was nice and warm in there. We watched the chicks hatch from their eggs. We go see that every time we go to the rodeo. We actually saw one chick with it's head stuck in the egg shell. It was sad to watch, but he finally got out! We looked at the huge cows and watched some kids show their cows.

After a while, it was getting ready for the rodeo to start, so we went to get some food. They actually had a Freebird's there this time, so we each had our 2nd burrito this week! And it was delicious. After dinner, we hurried over to Reliant Stadium to get warm, but we had to walk up the giant ramps outside to get to our seats. It was windy, freezing and miserable. We got the cheap seat tickets (that's all that was left) so we sat in the highest section possible and it was way up there! We made it to our seats, but it was freezing up there still, so we pretty much stayed cold the entire night. We had a good time though! I did anyway - Cody.... not so much. But I do have to say I have a great husband who will walk through the cold wind with me not even knowing if we could get tickets, and on top of that - he sat through a country concert with me! He HATES country music, so it's always nice of him to go with me to the rodeo.

Here's a picture from our seats...

This is my new favorite rodeo event! It's called Mutton Bustin'. Little boys who are 4-6 years old hang on to the sheep for dear life and they let the sheep run off. It's like bull riding for kids. They have to hang on, but they usually don't last long. It was so cute..

It's hard to get a picture of Brad Paisley from our seats...

He's so cute! Don't tell Cody.... haha