Cody & Julia

I Know....

2011-01-25T13:39:00.002-06:00

I'm the worst blogger in the world. One of the reasons I've been a slacker is because my computer that I use at home got a virus on it and Cody hasn't fixed it yet. Once he gets to working on it, I might do more... we'll see.

Did I Take a Picture Today?

2011-01-12T21:48:00.000-06:00

No...I didn't take a picture of anything today. Call me lazy and forgetful. Although, I wish I could take credit for seeing something as weird as this! My little 8 year old cousin, Aimee, emailed me a set of pictures where animals were stuck in weird positions and this was one of them... random.. I know.

Fixing Up V2 - The Next Phase of I Love My Church

2011-01-11T21:08:00.001-06:00

The next phase of I Love My Church is underway at Calvary. V2 (our contemporary service location) is getting a new roof and some improvements to the exterior and interior. It's been messed up for a while now with various patch jobs being done. The roof people said there was no point to fix anything else unless we fixed the roof because it was such a mess. So finally, after I Love My Church money came in, we are finally able to fix it up! It doesn't look like it in the picture, but the roof on the taller building is all taken apart... and that's an air conditioner flying in the air!

In case you were wondering, I Love My Church was a Sunday when the church gave money to help out fix up our buildings that needed repair and obtaining the new Calvary North campus. We raised around $2.7 million in the past 9 months - way to go God!

Calvary North

2011-01-10T21:40:00.001-06:00

Made another excursion out to Calvary North today for work. This is the new campus in Lumberton. For the past few years, Calvary Lumberton was at the old skating rink in Lumberton. Fletcher Emmanuel was moving to a new campus and selling their building. Calvary took this opportunity to purchase the new building to expand! They are doing some major improvements to the facility, and they are almost done! They better hurry up because the grand opening of Calvary North is this coming Sunday!! It's an exciting time for those who have been attending Calvary Lumberton... they all seem so excited to have this new building!

I could give up chocolate, but I'm not a quitter!

2011-01-09T20:38:00.000-06:00

Saw this sign while looking around the Cracker Barrell store after dinner. Wanted to buy it, but decided on a pack of gummy bears instead.

Baby Zoey

2011-01-09T16:34:00.000-06:00

So I got home late last night and didn't get to put my picture up from yesterday, so here it is a day late! Me and Zoey! Technically I didn't take this picture, but it was using my camera so that counts right? I think so. Anyway - last night we all met up over at the in-laws' house for burgers. The main attraction was new baby Zoey of course! After playing with Katelyn for over a year, I forget how tiny newborns are. She's precious!! I think she looks just like Casey and Aimee. She's five weeks old in this picture! Love her!!

Nuts

2011-01-07T21:38:00.000-06:00

I watched The Back Up Plan this afternoon and have come up with another nickname for my cat - Nuts. Zoe's dog in the movie is named Nuts. I thought it was a cute name, but it definitely describes my cat today. She's been crazy and won't stop trying to bite us. This is what she does to Cody's feet - she holds on with her paws, bites down and then he shakes her around. It's pretty funny to watch. I tried to get a picture of her biting his toes, but she's too quick.

Really??

2011-01-06T17:17:00.001-06:00

I saw this during my travels to the new Calvary North campus today. I don't get it... how do you even get in the thing??? I don't even think I could reach the handles!!

Wednesday

2011-01-05T21:00:00.002-06:00

This is what a normal Wednesday, looks like for me... Chick-fil-a and church (that's my church/workplace in the background)! I'm not sure if all of the Chick's do this, but ours lets you use Sunday bulletins from church to get free food! Every Monday and Wednesday when you bring in your bulletin from the Sunday before, you can get free breakfast (one free chicken biscuit or chicken minis) or you can use it at lunch or dinner to get a free sandwich or 8 count nuggets. So.. my Wednesday lunches are usually spent at the Chick with my friends from work! How can you pass up free food and a great tasting huge Diet Coke??

Godiva Morning... Or Not!

2011-01-04T21:20:00.002-06:00

Thanks to my wonderful husband (who gave me this in my stocking for Christmas), I was going to have a delicious cup of hot chocolate with my waffles this morning for breakfast. What a great way to start my first day back to work after a long relaxing weekend at home! Then I realized the milk was expired... boo.

You might be thinking.... wow.. this picture is really boring. I had plans to take pictures of something else while at work today, but I totally forgot.. so this is all I got! I'll try to be more interesting.. but sometimes hot chocolate is as awesome as it gets around here!

A New Year, A New Way of Blogging

2011-01-03T16:55:00.003-06:00

OK... since I never blog anymore... I've found a new way to do it. I saw a website that had a top ten list of New Year's Resolutions, and one of them was to take at least one picture every day. I'd like to try to take a picture every day, but who knows how that would actually go... I don't have much to take a picture of! So... I thought I'd try to post a picture every day (or lets shoot for every week since that's more realistic). I thought it'd be a fun way to capture a year. I also never posted about Sudan, so I'll probably do that eventually. So here's to my daily (maybe) pictures!Today was a holiday from work for Cody and me, so we did a lot of sitting around! In the afternoon, we finally got around to taking down our Christmas decorations. It sure does take a lot longer to put it all away than it does to put it out!! It's pretty depressing around my house now because there are no decorations! I need to go shopping at Kirkland's or something!! My house looks so empty!

The picture is of Cody on the roof taking down the Christmas lights. After we took those down, we did a little yard work. And now we are just sitting around again! I know.. sounds like a blast, huh? Tomorrow is back to work and my next vacation is in February when Cody and I will head to Winter Park, Colorado to go skiing. Can't wait!!!

Goose

2010-09-17T14:50:00.003-05:00

My cat has had several names over her little lifetime. Her real name is Bella Bean. Have we ever called her that? Umm.. maybe like 4 times when we first got her. I really thought that was a good cat name and something that would stick. Yeah...no. I never call her Bella. I have this thing where everything has a nickname (Cody has millions), and just like everything else, as soon as the cat came to live with us, she got nicknames! My mom still calls her Bella or Bella Button.. haha.

Most of the time she's Kitty. Then it transformed into Kitty Boo. Then just Boo. Then there are others that just come out of my mouth like Kit Kat, Kiky, Kiky Boo, Boo Boo, Girly and there are lots more I can't think of right now. As she got older, she started doing really crazy stuff, and I would say she was being a silly goose or that she was loosey goosey. And that's when we (I) started calling her Goose. Somehow, that name is sticking more than any other name.. and it's a name of another animal! I asked Cody if we could officially change her name at the vet (like having her name on the vet file makes it official), and he said no. Oh well... she'll probably do something else to make us have a new nickname for her soon anyway..

And this is what she thinks about me and all of the names I have for her.

Out With the Old, In With the New

2010-09-14T21:53:00.007-05:00

At the end of August, I said goodbye to the old mustang. I got this car in the summer of 2004, and had it paid off for a year before we started looking for something new. For most of the time that I drove this car, the driver's side window wasn't able to be rolled down without popping out of place. I went for years without rolling it down and not going through drive thrus for years!! I finally got it fixed this past summer, and was able to put the convertible top down again. Now that's it's gone, I sort of miss it... but not that much!

Hugging my car goodbye right before I handed over the keys at the dealership....

About a year ago, Cody and I started talking about getting a new, bigger car for me to drive. We wanted something family friendly, but not a van, and something that would last for a long time. We talked about several different midsize SUV's but we finally found the perfect one! I had this desire for a long time to get a Tahoe, but it was just a little too big. I really wanted that 3rd row that the Tahoe had to offer because I picture myself being that mom that carts my kids and their friends around... I know.. that's way in the future.. but it was in the back of my mind! After talking about it for a while, we just decided to get an SUV with 2 rows. Well after looking around and test driving some, I drove the Toyota Highlander. One of my main wants in my new car was to ride super smooth. The Highlander not only ran perfectly, but it had a 3rd row!!!! : ) I was thrilled! I knew instantly it was the car I'd be getting. It's perfect, I love it, and I'm so thankful Cody loved it too! Every time I get in it, I get excited! I even picked something up out of the back seat the other day and got so happy about how much space there was back there and about how I didn't have to turn sideways and duck under a seatbelt to reach the back floorboard (like in my Mustang). So I got upgraded to my perfect car - my Highlander!

Ain't she pretty??

Can you see my 3rd row back there.. haha.. it really is one of my favorite parts of this car! : )

Southern Sudan with the Lewis Family and Toposa People

2010-09-14T10:14:00.004-05:00

One month from today, I will begin my journey to Southern Sudan. With 7 other people from church, I am headed to Sudan to meet up with the Lewis Family who moved from Beaumont to Sudan to be missionaries to the Toposa tribe. Shannon Lewis used to be our missions minister at Calvary, and his wife, Carrie, was a nurse at St. Elizabeth. While he was on mission trips and she worked nights, I would babysit for them every now and then. I'm really excited to see the boys again!! In preparation for this trip, I've have to take an oral typhoid vaccine and get 3 shots (Hep A & B, Tetanus and Yellow Fever). I'm also going to have to learn how to pack everything I will need for 10 days in 1 suitcase and 1 backpack and it all can't weigh more than 44 pounds.... that's a little scary if you know me.. I'm a heavy packer usually taking 10 outfits to choose from for even a 2 day trip! : ) We'll see how I do!

While I'm there, I get to do some homeschooling with the boys while the group goes out to the villages in the morning. In the afternoon, I will be going out with the teams to the villages to tell stories from the bible using the story cloth. The story cloth goes from creation to the resurrection in 42 stories.
I'm SUPER excited to go!!! I'm also extremely nervous, too! I've never been out of the country, and to have Sudan be my first trip is a little scary - but I'm ready for the challenge! God is going to do great things while I'm there... I can't wait to see that family too... I miss them a lot!!!

Pray for the team that's going with me! They are Don Bush, Justin Edgerly, Gordon Fontenot, Clay Jones, Eliot Pages, Giles Sigler, and a mystery woman! The mystery woman can't be named until Carrie finds out who she is.. it's a surprise to her. : )

Don't you love on my map it says "Somewhere in Southern Sudan?" I don't even know where I'm going.. haha!! I just know I'm staying with the Lewis family... wherever they may be in the bush.

Yes, I Do Remember How to Write on My Blog

2010-09-07T23:26:00.002-05:00

I'm back... it's been a while! I just never had anything fun to write about, so I've been such a slacker! I posted 2 blogs below... maybe I'll keep up with the blogging... we'll see!

Lamar Football

2010-09-05T21:37:00.006-05:00

For the first time in 21 years, Lamar is playing football again! We got season tickets along with Carrie & Justin and Chris & Theresa. We went to Lamar's first game at McNeese last night, and we had a great time! I personally was totally pumped and excited at the beginning, and after halftime, I was soooo sleepy! It was still so much fun though, and we hope that there is that much energy for the whole season! We didn't end up winning though. McNeese beat us 30-27.. SO CLOSE! Next week is the first home game.. should be exciting!

Walking to the stadium...

We finally made it to the stadium, and we were super pumped to watch the game!

LU football players coming on the field..

TOUCHDOWN!

The Cards playing foosball

Chris & Theresa

Cody and me

Carrie and Justin

Final score - we did pretty good for our first game!

Put up your LU fingers!

ha...Carrie and I got pictures with the mascot!

Fair 2010

2010-05-17T22:02:00.008-05:00

So.... this is about 6 months late, but that's alright! In March, I went to the fair with Cody, Carrie, Justin, Katelyn, and Michelle! Since we are all old now, we go just to eat, and the fair has some of the best bad for you foods!!! I found my new favorite meal there - steak kabobs! Cody and I used to always get a slice of pizza and a pork kabob, but I found this other place that has steak kabobs, and OMG they were amazing!!! We always eat so much food, but it's once a year so we figure it's alright! The best thing to eat at the fair are the fried oreos! We discovered those a few years back and we get them every time!

This year, we had Katelyn with us to experience her first Southeast Texas State Fair... she was so young back then, but she seemed to enjoy what she could and slept through some of it. It was fun to go with her - especially around the animals! And.. since this is from 6 months ago, that's about all I remember from it... so here are some pictures! : )

The BEST part of the fair - Fried Oreos!!!! The bad thing is I learned how to make these at home... so dangerous because they are SO good!

Katelyn's first fair!! If you don't see Justin in this child, then you're just crazy! She's like a miniature Justin!

Me and Katelyn at the fair!

Katelyn visited the petting zoo - she seemed to enjoy looking at the animals!

Katelyn getting a good look at the cow

Katelyn's first pony ride... she seemed to like it until the very end.

So cute!! Justin played a game to win Katelyn a prize

He won a giant banana!

Don't think she liked it very much.. haha!!

Weight Loss Update

2010-05-16T23:07:00.007-05:00

Well... it's not been 4 months since I've started the B-12 injections, and I'm down 25.5 pounds and 10.5 inches! It's weird to think that I've lost that much! I mean... last fall I wasn't able to see the need for losing weight. I just kept gaining weight. I definitely knew it was happening, but I just didn't care to make it stop. I never really got on the scale to see how much I weighed because I honestly didn't want to know. Now that I've lost the 25 lbs. it's almost weird to think I had that much to lose and then some!! It just shows me how unhealthy I had been in the last year to let myself get that huge!

I'm getting to the point where people notice that I've lost weight and they don't know all I've been doing to try to lose it. It makes me feel accomplished when other people notice my efforts.. and this is a huge effort! I feel wonderful!!

My favorite thing about losing the weight these days is the clothes! Because I'm lazy, I never took a bag of clothes to Goodwill. They must have been sitting in my closet for about 4 months now. Back then I had cleaned out my drawers of all the small pants that I knew would never fit me again. I'm so glad I never took those clothes in! I dug through that bag last week and found a practically brand new pair of Express jeans that FIT!!!!!!!!! And... they are 2 sizes smaller than the jeans I got for Christmas!! I found about 4 pairs of pants that I can fit into again in that bag... I was super happy that night! About 1 1/2 years ago I bought some black Express pants (the best black pants I've found that fit me good), but very soon after I bought them I grew out of them. I just found them at the bottom of my drawer the other night, and they are actually a little baggy on me! It's a great feeling to fit into old clothes again! Tonight I bought a plastic bin to put all of my "fat clothes" into. I'm not throwing them away just in case... not that I plan on gaining the weight back, but you never know what kids will do to your body...

Can you tell a differnce?

This picture is from August 2009.This is from April 2010.

The Gusher Half Marathon

2010-05-16T21:20:00.011-05:00

On May 1st, I completed my first half marathon. That's 13.1 miles and , for me, 3 hours and 5 minutes of running. It was pretty much the hardest thing I've ever done, but it was a lot of fun!

I started running at the end of February just to get in shape. Not long after, we decided to follow the training schedule to get us ready for the half marathon. We didn't really commit to the marathon for a long time, but we used the training schedule to keep us on a regular running regimine. We ran 4 times a week. Our week day runs were either 3-4 miles each day, and our Saturday runs were the long runs. We started with 4 miles and added a mile each Saturday. It got pretty rough at times, but we all did really good and were very dedicated to accomplishing this! At the end of March, we all signed up for the race, and we were pumped!

May 1st finally came around. I woke up around 5:15 am to get some breakfast and get ready. When I drove over to meet up with my friends, it was drizziling.. and it drizzled until right before the race started. This wetness mixed with the heat made it MISERABLE to run in! The air was so thick that at some points it was hard for me to breathe. But depsite all of that.. I did finish the race! Now for some picture of the race:

My running buddies: Top Row - Lauren, Phyllis and Steven

Front Row - Me and Rebekah

We are all nice and clean here... didn't last long!
Ready to run!
Can you find me?

This is around mile 2...

Still around mile 2... looking pretty happy at this point. I was not so excited later on that day!

Me and Cindy running on (I don't run with Cindy during the week, but she's a church friend I met up with... I sort of left my running buddies in the dust!)

Running down MLK - that's one of Cindy's kids. They met up with us during the race to take pictures and cheer her on!

Crockett Street - maybe around mile 5 or 6

Back on MLK - mile 10. That guy next to us was the full marathon winner. While we were on mile 10, he was at mile 22 or so... he totally lapped us! He went twice as far in a WAY shorter amount of time...

One more lap around Lamar.... this is around mile 11.5 and this is around the time I thought my feet were going to fall off!!
Runing towards the finish line - my friends Heather and Cindy ran it in with me!!

And I'm DONE!!

Getting my medal

WOOHOO!

Me and Cody!
Finally found my running buddies! I lost them after mile 2. I never saw them again, but they made it to the end together!

Way to go guys!

I'm a marathon runner!!

I'm still not sure how I managed to run for 3 hours... I could definitely think of some better ways to spend three hours, but this was a fune experience! I can't wait until the next one!!

Fair 2010: Part One

2010-03-29T12:40:00.003-05:00

Justin learned how to play the piano at the fair... he was really into it!

New Plants

2010-03-14T23:44:00.008-05:00

We finally got rid of the ugly plants in our front yard! We have these tiny shrubs in the front of our azelia bush, and they are pretty much dead, and they weren't even lined up in a row. We decided Sunday afternoon to dig them up and plant something new. We made our first trip to Home Depot to get some top soil, 3 Chinese Privet plants, 3 gardenias, and some weed blocker stuff to lay out. We had a great time working in the yard, and it looks much better! We actually got home and starting digging up the plants and realized we need mulch for the top of the weed blocker. We made another trip to get 8 bags of mulch, but that wasn't even enough..... it sure does cost a lot to make your yard pretty!

This is a before shot of the front. We only took out the small plants in the front.

A close up of the dead shrub..... glad they are gone!

We stopped for snocones after our 2nd run to Home Depot! It was GOOOOOD!

I LOVE these little plants! I stole this idea from Carrie and Michelle.. they both have them, and I just love the color and how flowy they are! I hope they grow to get lots bigger!

Cody wanted to get these gardenias... they are his favorite because they smell so good! I really hope we don't kill them : )Our cute little plants!
A view of the whole thing from the front! It doesn't look like much, but we are hoping they grow a little... at least that's what it said on the little information tag on the plants : )

Now we have big dreams for the backyard! It's going to take a LONG time to get that completed!!! It's such a mess. The before and after pictures of the backyard are going to be fun to see... can't wait to start that!

March Birthdays

2010-03-14T23:31:00.007-05:00

We celebrated Logan's 1st birthday last Saturday. We had a great time at Don & Tina's house with wonderful food! It was nice to sit around all day and just hang out! I got a few pictures of the party. I thought I took pictures of the presents, but then I remembered I was taking pictures of that part with Theresa's camera... oh well.. you'll just have to look on her blog for those! : )

The birthday both munching on his birthday "pupcake" as Aidan called it.... cute!

Aidan and Aimee having a great time at the party!
That night, we celebrated my dad's birthday. We got together with my family at Tony's BBQ, and then went back to my parents' house for cake. It was nice, yet again, to be able to sit around and just talk with family... we had lots of laughs! No pictures from his party though....

And Carrie had a birthday too! I didn't get pictures from her party either... I'm not much a picture taker I guess. We had some fabulous hamburgers Friday night at the Bean's house followed by presents and cookie cake (yum)! I got to play with my precious niece Katelyn who's learning how to sit up now! It's so fun to be able to watch her develop new skills. Every time I see her, she can do new tricks... she's getting so big!!!

Our Little Softball Star

2010-03-14T23:17:00.004-05:00

Aimee starting playing softball, and we got to go watch her play on Saturday afernoon. It was a really nice day to be outside, and we enjoyed watching Aimee play!

Aimee cheesin' it up for her fans!

Next up to bat..
She looks like she's really focusing... such a great player!

Aimee batting...

And she hit an RBI! Way to go Aims!

Can't wait to keep going to her games... it's really funny to watch the little girls play!

Messy Shorts!

2010-02-28T23:51:00.004-06:00

Apparently I'm a messy person because I bought the shorts because they look a certain way. I bought them this afternoon, and I love them! They light grey-bluish and they have bleach looking drips on them. You can't tell from this picture, but in person, they really aren't that noticable either. So I bought the shorts because the bleach spots were cool looking.. I like semi-destressed looking pants/shorts. So.... I was looking on the Old Navy website to see if they had other colors they didn't have in the store and noticed they have customer reviews on their website now. I started reading the reviews for these shorts, and I felt like a really messy person! A lot of people complained that when they got their shorts, they were damaged with bleach and had to return them. Some said they were messed up in the laundry. No one liked them! I felt like a dork for a minute because I bought them BECAUSE they looked bleached... oh well. They are cute, and I'm wearing them!

It's Official...

2010-02-28T23:08:00.004-06:00

I've really lost weight! For the past 7 weeks, I've been getting B12 + Lipotropic injections and taking an appetite suppressant. I always wondered if that would work for me. I decided at the beginning of January I was going to give it a try. My first appointment was January 8th, and I've been faithful to go back and get the injection every Friday since then.

I did think it was weird to want to get a shot once a week because I've never really been a big fan of needles, but it hasn't been bad. I hardly feel it anymore! I get such a thrill out of going there each Friday because they weigh me first thing when I get there. It's very exciting to see my weight go down each week! My first appointment I set a goal to lose 45 pounds. I hadn't thought about it before the nurse asked what my goal weight was. I just threw out a weight I was before (about 2 years ago) and she said, "Okay, you can do that!" I thought it was crazy to set that big of a goal at first, but heck - I'm 1/3 of the way there already! I can do this!!!

This past Friday was my 2nd appointment with the nurse. I'm supposed to go every 4 weeks for a nurse visit to take measurements, talk about my progress, and get my pill refilled. I didn't get an appointment when 4 weeks came around, so I had to wait a while longer. I was really excited for this 2nd visit with the nurse because of my measurements. She told me losing inches is really easy! And she was right! I've lost 6 inches total (bust, waist, and hips). I'm so excited about that! I mean... I know my brand new jeans are fitting VERY loosely, but it was just really cool to have that confirmed with measurements! I even wore the same outfit that I wore to my first appointment to make it more accurate! I'm just really excited about the weight coming off, and I am looking forward to losing more! It sometimes seems to be all I talk about, but it's just really cool right now!

On this weight loss program, I've been eating different. I wouldn't say healthy though. I still don't eat veggies like I should... but I have been cutting WAY back on how much I do eat. A lot of that comes from the appetite suppressant I'm taking, so I can't really take all of the credit for having so much self control. The pill definitely controls my hunger. Some days I could go without eating lunch even though I know it's horrible! I really try not to do that, but when I've been super busy at work, it works for me. I really haven't done it that much though. I really do notice myself getting fuller faster which is great! I wish I could do that without the pill though.. that would be nice!

Through the first 6 weeks of this, I hadn't worked out a single day and still lost all of the weight. That just goes to show you how crazy it is! But.... last week I finally started doing physical activity! Some friends of mine from church go running around in their neighborhood. I've NEVER been one to run. For one, I can't do it without my side hurting. Seriously... I could only go like 1/4 a mile before I have to quit. And sometimes my knees and/or ankles would feel like they would just give out under me. I've always been scared to run because of that. Well, last Tuesday I decided to meet up with my friends and try to run. I warned them that I'd probably be walking way behind them, but they encouraged me to give it a try anyway. They didn't tell me how long the route was until afterward. I had run 1 mile without stopping. I walked for about another 1/4 a mile at the end because my feets literally stopped running without me even knowing it.. it was kinda funny... I wasn't disappointed because I'd gone farther than ever before!

The next day, we met up again, and I ran 1.5 miles - and that time I didn't walk at all!! Thursday, I ran 2.5 miles, and Saturday morning I went 3! The rest of the girls ran 4... but I quit! haha... I wasn't feeling 4 yet, but I was proud that I did 3 without stopping! It was HARD too. I thought it was never going to end. They are trying to talk me into running the gusher May 1st, but I don't know about. They want to sign up for the 1/2 marathon which is 13.1 miles... ummm... what? I can barely do 3 without almost dying... how could I do 13.1 miles? Well.. they give you 7 hours to cross the finish line, so I could walk a lot of it I guess. It wouldn't be tooooo bad. But still... that's a long way! Not sure yet if I'll do it.. but I do know I'll keep running with my girls! It's been really fun, and I'm glad I'm finally exercising!

And... I was trying on some of my old pants tonight, and I can fit in some of them again!! WOOHOO!!

My First Wedding

2010-02-07T20:54:00.004-06:00

This weekend was my first wedding as the wedding coordinator for the church. It was a really busy weekend, but I had lots of fun doing it! Peniel Roxas and Justin Griffin are long time members of our church, and their dads are both ministers at Calvary. I've known Justin most of my life Peniel for a long time too. It was fun to be a part of their wedding!

As wedding coordinator, I don't do much planning, I just make sure everything is ready to go. I have to reserve the room they are using for the ceremony and dressing rooms. I have to get with the media guys and make sure they have everything they need. I have to get with maintenance and figure out when to open and lock doors and figure out who is cleaning when. I have to make sure on rehearsal and decorating day everything is in place. And on the wedding day I run around like crazy!! They were starting their wedding at 4:00, and boy, did that come quick! I had to race to my door to open it up, tell people when to walk, and then run back to the other door and make sure the father of the bride has his lighter (which he didn't - my fault)... it was crazy there for a little while! But we made it through! They hired another lady to coordinate also, so it was GREAT that she was there too for my first wedding! : )

Friday was the rehearsal dinner which they had in V2. Peniel and Justin went to Baylor, so it was all a green and gold theme! It turned out really cute! I didn't get a picture of the entire room which I could just kick myself for forgetting to do that! I'm trying to keep up a photo album to show brides different set ups... oh well. I did get a picture of the table though..

Saturday was a long, but really fun day! I got there early to let the flower ladies in to set up. I got a few pictures before everyone got to the church. It looked really great. During the wedding, the lights were dimmed, and it was really pretty!! Here's a few from the back of the sanctuary.

A view from the middle....

I just LOVED the flower arrangements! They were so huge and pretty!

Mr. and Mrs. Griffin!!

After the wedding, I had to wait until the pictures were done to start cleaning up. I thought clean up would take hours, so I just thought going to the recption was out of the question. I had organized the way I would clean up a couple of days before, so it made the clean up go really quickly! It took me about an hour. I had the help of 2 maintenance guys who helped me with heavy boxes and stuff that was just too heavy to carry back to the wedding closet. The media guy cleaned up his own stuff. But I was surprised that I cleared the stage and the bride's room really quickly!

I decided I would try to run over to the reception to see if I could hang out before they all left. To my surprise, right when I got there was the time when they were starting to serve dinner. So I didn't miss anything after all! I was excited to get to go! We had a great dinner, delicious cake, bubble tea (which I did not try - eww), and dancing! Now.. I usually do not dance at weddings because I just don't know how. I've never really liked it. I decided what the heck - everyone else looks like a fool, so I met up with Amber, Jerri K and Sabrina and we danced the rest of the night! It was really fun, and I'm glad I wasn't just sitting around. It's good to let loose like that every now and then! I was completely exhausted last night, and I yawned my way through church this morning! It was a fun weekend, but I'm very glad I have until May until the next wedding!!!

One of my cat's favorite toys...

2010-01-10T11:34:00.004-06:00

Is a DOOR STOP! And let me tell you, it's SO annoying! The only time she ever decides to start playing with the door stop in the bathroom is in the middle of the night. You know the sound it makes... boing. And she does it over and over and over! And does Cody hear it? No, of course not! I'm the only one waking up, kicking the cat out of the bathroom, and closing the door so she won't go back in to play with it. I hope this is not a sign of how it's going to be when we have kids.....

Her other favorite things to do in the middle of the night are to bite our feet if they happen to stick out of a blanket, throw her moose in the air and attack it, play with the blinds, play with the space saver bags under the bed, and walk on top of your entire body to purr in your face. But occasionally she will snuggle up next us, fall asleep, and look just as cute as ever!

December 2009

2010-01-01T15:30:00.010-06:00

I haven't blogged in forever and finally something happened that was blog worthy. Snow, Christmas and New Year's Eve! In early December, we had a little snowfall. I was at work, and we waited all day for the snow to come down. On our way back to work after lunch, it started to sleet, so we knew it wouldn't be long! Finally, around 2 or so, the snow came. We quit working, and headed outside to play! Or.. really we just stood there and watched. Here's a few pictures from work and at our house from the snow day!

Here is Jerri K and I enjoying some time off of work in the snow!

Cody at our house... it was pretty!
Our house! I love the snow-covered roof with the Christmas lights!

Cody and I had a really great Christmas, too! We got to spend lots of time with both of our families during the holidays, and had lots of fun. I finally got that Coach purse I had been wanting for so long, too! That was really exciting for me! : ) Cody got an electric hedge trimmer from his parents, and during his week off, he's already started playing with it in the bushes and loves it! He wasn't really thrilled about trying to trim all the bushes with big clippers, so this is going to be very useful for him (we have LOTS of bushes)!!

We also got to see all the kids become more involved in the gift opening. Aimee, of course, was an expert gift opener and helped pass out gifts. Aidan also helped pass out gifts and seemed to think everything he opened was the coolest thing ever! Instead of opening the gifts, Logan crawled all over them! It was so funny, and when he'd topple off of them, he'd just get back to climbing. And then there's the newest baby - Katelyn. She didn't do much of the opening, but she did like to grab on to the wrapping paper. She will have tons of toys now to play with when she gets big enough! Here's a few pictures from Christmas at the both of our family Christmases.

Murphy girls on Christmas Eve

The kids... it was very difficult to get them all together for a picture!
Aimee posing in front of the tree
Katelyn playing with wrapping paper in her Christmas pjs
My lovely Coach purse

New Year's Eve was a blast! We went over to Don and Tina's house to celebrate, but what Don didn't know was that it really was a surprise birthday party for him. We ate lots of good snacks (even though we had just eaten at Outback), talked, had a gift exchange game, and had a really great time visiting with everyone! Here's some pictures from the bash:

The birthday boy and me! Happy Birthday Arthur : )

From the gift exchange, I got a tea light lamp, but another lady heard I wanted her scarf. Good thing she doesn't like pink! I ended up with a pretty scarf (which I licked because I didn't want anyone to take it...haha) and Cody ended up with grilling stuff. He started off with the Jelly Beans, but someone stole them even after I ate some of them....

Carrie stole this from her mother... how rude! : )
I caught Casey drinking potpourri!
Aimee and me!
Two of the kids... the others aren't quite old enough to make it to midnight yet!
Aidan and me!
My hubs and me having a grape juice toast at midnight! Love you Cody!

We've had some really great times this year, and can't wait to see what will happen in 2010! Happy New Year everyone!

Halloween 2009

2009-11-07T13:34:00.004-06:00

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....

2009-10-03T22:56:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-10-01T17:04:00.002-05:00

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

2009-09-02T16:37:00.004-05:00

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!

2009-08-25T16:57:00.004-05:00

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!

2009-08-12T22:53:00.002-05:00

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!!

2009-07-31T13:41:00.002-05:00

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

2009-07-31T13:20:00.003-05:00

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!

2009-07-31T13:05:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-07-31T12:44:00.002-05:00

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

2009-06-02T01:13:00.009-05:00

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

2009-05-29T12:18:00.005-05:00

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

2009-05-11T15:33:00.003-05:00

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!!

2009-05-10T10:48:00.002-05:00

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

2009-05-02T22:47:00.004-05:00

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

2009-04-23T11:54:00.003-05:00

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!!

2009-03-18T15:42:00.003-05:00

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

2009-03-13T11:01:00.012-05:00

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

Strange Oreo

2009-03-13T10:46:00.007-05:00

So... Cody's been taking a class this week for work. Since it's Lumberton's spring break, I decided to invite myself along for a vacation. I haven't gotten totally bored yet. I've found things to do. Yesterday though, after dropping Cody off at the Galleria for his class, I went back to the hotel for my "breakfast." I brought snacks along so I wouldn't have to buy stuff if I got hungry. I had poptarts but I got sick of those. So for breakfast with my Diet Coke I had some Oreos! During my extremely healthy time of eating the Oreos.. I found this one! I've never seen this before.

So this is what I've found to do instead of staying bored. I take pictures of weird oreos and dedicate an entire post them...... I may be a little bored. : )

Birthday Weekend

2009-03-12T09:34:00.010-05:00

While sitting in the Galleria bored and waiting on Cody for his lunch break, I decided to post some pictures from last weekend. Friday was my dad's 55th birthday! We went over to my parents' house to celebrate. We (my dad) cooked out. We were to bring out own meat to get cooked on the grill. I have never had to prepare meat for grilling, so I really didn't know what I was doing! I ended up going to the store late the night before and getting a random type of beef (I don't even know how to pick out a steak!), and I tried to marinate it overnight. I was going to make asian flavored beef kabobs. I liked them a lot, but doesn't care for the marinated meat. Oh well.. it was good anyway. I've added some pictures from the evening.

My dad grilling with James helping out.

Dierks was hanging out too!

I found out my dad is building his own kayak. I think it will be pretty neat once he gets it all done!

My two grandmas hanging out

Here's more party people: Dave, my mom, and Lynda

Also, this weekend, we got to meet Logan Rucker!! He was born on Thursday, March 5 at 6:12 weighing 6 pounds 12 ounces! We went to their house on Sunday afternoon to visit. He's SOOOO cute and little. He had the cutest little arms and everything else too! I wanted to hold him forever! I thought he looked like Aidan from a picture they sent, but not in person. So here's some pictures from that day!

I love this picture... so cute!

Here's Aidan with his giant stuffed moose. He had lots of fun playing that day! Seeing the little baby got me so excited to have my own children. Can't wait for that time for Cody and me! For now though, we will just visit the Ruckers and wait for Carrie's little one to arrive!

4th Folder, 4th Picture

2009-02-24T15:39:00.006-06:00

So I never was officially tagged or challenged to do this.. but I wanted to anyway because my picture was cute! Your supposed to find the 4th folder in your pictures and then look at the 4th picture and post it on here. Then you talk about what the picture is from, so here's mine!

I'm not really sure when this was taken (maybe 3 years ago?), but I remember this moment. It was one of the nights Aimee spent the night with Michelle and Mickey or maybe they just stayed over later. We had just given her a bath and went back to jump on the big bed! She kept doing this goofy little pose so I took her picture. She looks so tiny. Our little Aimee is growing up fast... way too fast.

Now I'm tagging some people to do the same!
Carrie
Stephanie
Whoever else reads this...

Sunday.....

2009-02-22T18:24:00.003-06:00

Today was such a nice day. It was a little bit cold, but really pretty outside. We started out going to church. Then we headed over to Cheddars for a delicious lunch of Baked Spasagna! So good!! After lunch, we went to go find a house I had seen on the internet. It was a townhouse with a pool, so of course that got me excited. So we went on a search for it. It was not even cute. Haha... it was almost as tiny as our apartment now, and the pool was a community pool down the street. So that place was definitely a no! After our house hunting adventure, Cody went to play ultimate frisbee, and I went shopping. While out shopping for random stuff, I was almost headed home until I saw something that caught my eye! I hate shopping for groceries, so I figured I would just do it some other day, even though I really needed to get some stuff (yeah, I am lazy sometimes). So - while in the parking lot of Kroger, I saw the Girl Scouts selling cookies. It totally made my day. I LOVE the Caramel deLites. So, I decided I should just go shopping anyway since I was right by Kroger and then stop by the cookie stand on the way out. I'm pretty sure the two boxes won't last long. I think everytime I start a diet, these little Girl Scouts always bring out the cookies - it's not right. I can't resist. Oh well... they are delicious!!
When I got home, I remembered I wanted to look for a plant for my porch. I've always wanted one, but never really knew what to get. So I went searching at Lowe's and found the plants that don't need direct sunlight. I didn't really know if that even existed, but I was suprised to find some nice flowers that grew well in shade. I ended up getting a hanging basket of impatiens and put it in a pot since there isn't a place to hang them. So here's my very first plant ever! I already broke off a few stems, and it's not even anymore. I tried though. I hope it grows and evens out later on. I really just hope that it lives!

Kindergarten

2009-02-17T20:10:00.003-06:00

I never thought I would have to say this:

"Seth, get that crayon out of your nose!"

But that's what happens when you teach kindergarten I guess... they are such a mess, but so cute!

Valentine's Day

2009-02-16T10:32:00.003-06:00

This year for Valentine's Day, we spent the day in Houston. Instead of just hanging around the house all day and having a long wait at a restaurant around Beaumont, we decided to eat at some not so romantic restaurants. But that was okay with us because these are our favorite places to eat! I got La Madeleine for lunch, and for Cody we went to Freebirds for dinner. To kill time between lunch and dinner, we spent the day at the Galleria. I was on a mission to find jeans and shoes, but I couldn't find anything. So it was pretty much a wasted day of shopping. I had fun though, but Cody was not excited about walking around the entire mall!

At La Madeleine in the Galleria eating - yum!

Cody wasn't that thrilled about taking pictures.. but I had to get a shot of him eating his favorite meal...

While at the Galleria, we got a call from Cody's mom asking us to go on a search for some curtains. That was an adventure into the scary parts of Houston! But we got the curtains, and hurried back to Highland Village so we could shop at Crate and Barrel before it closed. I wish I had more cabinet space because I could have bought so much stuff from there. I love kitchen stuff!! Then we went over to Pottery Barn. I could have bought everything from there, too! After all of the shopping, we finally decided it was time to get dessert. We planned to just get some ice cream near Freebird's while we were close by, but we were too stuffed from eating giant burritos. We ended up going to a cafe called Ruggles. My parents and their friends found this place a while back, and they go there a lot when in Houston. They have great dessert!! We ended up getting the Domino Cake. It was huge and wonderful and we it all! : )

Chocolate cake - a perfect way to end Valentine's Day with my husband!

Finally something to blog about...

2009-02-13T22:27:00.010-06:00

It's been a while since I written anything on here, but there just hasn't been that much exciting stuff happening. I've been subbing a lot in Lumberton. It's not so bad. I'd really like a more permanent job though. Other than that - nothing new has been going on!

Back in January, we saw Brian Regan at the Julie Rogers Theater. It was a great show!! He's definitely my favorite comedian, so it was really awesome to get to see him live. He pretty much used all new jokes and such. He did an encore of the "You too" phrase. Even though I've heard that 30 times already, it was still funny. You should check him out if you haven't heard of him. His jokes are clean - so he's good for the whole family!

Here's Brian Regan with a classic face. He pretty much looked like this the whole time.

Sam and Ben, my cousins, came with us.

James and his friends, Buddy and Boobs, came, too.

The Beans!

Last Saturday, we celebrated the January/February birthdays in the Bean/Rucker family. So that was Theresa, Michelle, and Granny. We had a big lunch with lots of good junk food and two cakes! It was the prettiest day ever, so we spent lots of time outside. I played with Aimee and Aidan out by the pond. We looked for ducks, as usual. When we did see some, we tried to feed them, but I think the kids freaked them out so they swam away. After a while, the giant baseball bat and plastic baseball were brought out. This is another common thing to do outside of the Bean house for the kids. Aimee's finally able to slam the ball, and Aidan is working on his swing. Here are a few pictures I got before my camera died....

Theresa painted Michelle a dish - I think she liked it...

Granny digging into her big box of goodies!

Granny, Tina, Stephanie, Michelle, Carrie, and Theresa

Aimee -the baseball star!
Aidan is getting SO big!

Cheeto Puffs!

Ok everyone.. I posted something! Now we just have to wait around for another big life event for this to happen again. That will probably be when Theresa has Logan which shouldn't be too long!!! I can't wait to meet the newest Rucker!

Now that Carrie has announced it...

2009-01-11T00:10:00.002-06:00

So can I! Carrie and Justin are having a baby! YAY! Cody and I are so excited about becoming an aunt and uncle... too bad we have to wait until August to meet our little niece or nephew. It's such a long wait.. but so exciting!

Compatibility Test

2008-12-29T22:25:00.003-06:00

I came across the craziest thing today! My mom told me that she was trying to go through my closet and get it organized so she asked me to come over and go through some things. I have this giant box filled with really weird things that I wanted to keep.. mostly from high school. While I was digging through trying to find what the keep or throw away, I made the neatest discovery. In high school, the Student Council would do a compatibility test with everyone in the school. I don't remember much about how it was done, but there was apparently some questions we had to answer. After a while, the results were delivered. I remember it was neat to see who would show up on your list. I haven't looked at this sheet since high school, so I thought it was really cool when I found it today. Check out who was one of the guys tied for most compatible!!
Now I have proof that we are meant to be together...haha!

December Stuff

2008-12-28T21:14:00.007-06:00

December has been pretty exciting this year. I finished student teaching, GRADUATED, and Cody and I had our first Christmas together.

This was right after graduation... which was long and boring. I'm so glad to be done with school!

On the Monday, we had Christmas with my aunt, uncle and cousins. Since they weren't going to be here on Christmas day, we did our gift exchange then. My mom had given them, James, Cody and me all the same shaped box to open at the same time. It turned out to be Brian Regan tickets for when he comes to Beaumont. My poor dad though thought he had the fourth row seats until my mom told him she thought it would be nicer for them to give the kids those seats. Now he's on row 11 or something.... Here's Cody and me excited about our tickets!

Since I'm married to Cody now, I was required to attend the Bean-Murphy-Rucker Christmas Eve Bash. The present pile was enormous like they say (even though they all said it was smaller this year). We had lots of fun eating tons of food and hanging out. My new favorite dish is sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top - YUM. I could eat it every day forever.
The Beans' First Christmas
All December long, we talked about getting our Pandora bracelets... and here they are!! And we have so many beads already, by next Christmas we should be on bracelet #2!

Up next: 2009! And it will be filled with a different job, hopefully getting a permanent one, two babies in the family on the way (not me just to be clear!), hopefully buying a house if possible, and lots of weddings to attend! Should be a fun year.

Sam as Prince Charming

2008-12-14T00:22:00.007-06:00

My cousin, Sam, was in a high school musical. He played Prince Charming in Cinderella. When I'm around him, he doesn't talk a lot, let alone sing solos. So, the whole family went out to Silsbee tonight to watch him sing and dance. It was funny to see him doing it all, but he was really good!

My brother and parents before the play started

Cody and me before it started

Sam's first scene with Cinderella

Sam all dressed up!

Cinderella and Prince Charming..awww
They had to kiss a few times

Prince Charming and me - and he definitely has on more makeup than me!

And in other news... I graduate in 1 week! Well.. since it's after midnight I guess that actually means 6 days!!

"Wake up, it's a blizzard out there!"

2008-12-11T21:37:00.010-06:00

So... I was fast asleep, when Cody wakes me up to look at the snow. He had woken me up 30 minutes before, but there was barely any snow.. so I went back to sleep. After he woke me up again, I got out of bed anyway just to look, and it was everywhere! There were so many people around the apartment complex playing in the snow. It was so fun. So we made our snowman, threw snowballs, and froze our fingers and toes off!

This was taken around 1:00 AM

Cody built a snowman
Cody's car last night around 1:45
My car this morning after scraping a little bit off. It was so thick!Our apartment

Driving down Major with snow still covering my car!

Instead of working, I caught Justin having a snowball fight with his coworkers!

Our church - it looked pretty!

We even had a late start to school because of the snow! We didn't have to go in until 10 which was awesome! It was all the kids could talk about at school today. Too bad we couldn't have the whole day off... it would have been nice!

Birthday and Thanksgiving

2008-11-30T16:43:00.005-06:00

Last Wednesday was Cody's 24th birthday, but we had the party on the Saturday before that. As usual, the family combines his with Casey's birthday for one big fun time. Here's a picture of their cake:

Cody and his gifts:

Casey with his new "man bag" for work:
We had our first Thanksgiving together as a married couple....
Here's our feast:
My favorite table - the dessert table!!
Along with the cranberry sauce and rolls, I brought these little pecan pie things.
Aidan was our entertainment for the day! This picture is from when Michelle was giving him some punch - he LOVED it and couldn't stop drinking! There's nothing better than a big cup of pink sugar!
Our first Christmas tree. We actually set it up and started decorating the Sunday before Thanksgiving. I couldn't wait anymore! I'm so proud of myself four having gifts bought and wrapped already and it's still November! I already have 5 people's gifts completed! I'm doing good this year.

So that's what's been going on in our lives lately. I only have 2 1/2 more weeks of student teaching - then I graduate! I can't wait to be totally done with everything. Tomorrow begins mock TAKS test - boo! It's going to be the most boring week ever. I wish I could bring a book to read. Oh well.. I'll survive.

In other news - Amy and Matthew got engaged! : ) We are so excited for them!! Her engagement ring is BEAUTIFUL! Amy - you can start a blog now and it won't be weird.. haha!

2008 Presedential Election Vocabulary

2008-11-03T19:03:00.002-06:00

Because of the election tomorrow, my mentor teacher at school planned a week's worth of lessons about the election. I didn't realize how fun it was going to be! Today, with each of my four classes, we got a set of vocabulary words about the election. The students were to use these words in a sentence. I love reading the sentences they come up with.. but these were so much more fun! Along with their vocabulary words, they had to write an "I wonder" sentence about what they wonder about the elections outcomes.

Vocabulary words: ballot, election, Democratic Party, Republican Party, inauguration, Barack Obama, John McCain, voter registration

They had the definitions to each word and I explained them very carefully so they could use them in sentences... and this is what we got:

Election
The people was at the election.

Democratic Party
They had a Democratic Party yesterday.
When did they first throw their Democratic Party?
I wish I could go to the Democratic Party.

Inauguration
My brother does not know what inauguration is.
I wonder when HEB Plus inauguration.

Barack Obama
Barack Obama was once a president.

Voter Registration
I am not registration to vote.

Now for the "I wonder" statements...
Most people put this: "I wonder who will win the election." or "I wonder if Barack Obama will win the election." Only one person wondered what will happen to John McCain.
But then we had some others:
I wonder if Oracka Obama will win.
I wonder if Obama will be assassinated before he is elected.

Then...I had some great conversations with the kids:

Kid: So... Mrs. Bean... what is the Decorated Party? Is that where you decorate a party...
Me: No, it's the Democratic Party.. it has nothing to do with parties.

Me: (Quizzing children about the candidates) Ok.. which party is Barack Obama in?
Kid: Black!

Kid: We need a president so we can get a new mall.

Kid: Mrs. Bean, did you vote?
Me: Yes.
Kid: Who did you vote for?
Me: Don't worry about it, it's not any of your business.
Kid: I bet you voted for John McCain.
Me: Why do you say that?
Kid: Y'all are the same color.
Me: Mmmmk.

Since I work in a school of mostly black children, it's very interesting to see what they are thinking about the election. Clearly, they all want Obama to win. And I think it's interesting to see that some of them, from conversations, think it's about race. Who knows what their parents tell them. I will only get more interesting as the week goes on....

Halloween and Football

2008-11-02T00:07:00.007-05:00

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays!! I love to see the little trick-or-treaters in their cute costumes! And I love to carve pumpkins. Me and Cody each got our own pumpkin to carve. Our apartments are pretty plain looking on the outside, so we had to spruce it up with our pumpkins! Too bad they shriveled up... they weren't cute for long!

This is our "porch"

For the past few years, Cody has gotten his pumpkin stencils from www.homestarrunner.com.... This year's pumpkin was Trogdor. Notice the toothpick holding the teeth. He accidently cut them off!

My pumkin was cute the first day. I forgot to take a picture before the sun shriveld it up. I had to secure it with a toothpick to keep it from falling over. It looked totally different when it was first carved. Some edges actually disappeared so it looks really strange.

On Halloween night, we made three stops. First, my older brother was in town after a deer hunting trip in Oklahoma so we had Olive Garden (YUM) with him and my family. Then we stopped by my old neighborhood to see some friends. They usually have a cute little spook house on their front porch. It brought back lots of memories of my childhood trick-or-treating days. We had so much fun back then!!! After that stop, we headed to Cody's parents to pass out candy and make smores. It was so fun. Me and Carrie actually had some of our students stop by. They seem shocked that we do things outside of school. After a while, the Ruckers stopped by after their church Halloween thing. Good thing they did because I finally got to wear a costume! I borrowed Aimee's pumpkin costume for a while!

Today, West Brook played Sterling. My uncle is the head coach for Sterling, so all of the family came to see the game. We had to sit on the Sterling side... West Brook won though.. sorry Uncle Herb!

Here's the gang: Grandma, Lynda, Dave, John, David, Dad, Darlene, and Courtney

Here's West Brook's band (or what's left of it...)

Marching....

Uncle Herb in action!

So - we've had a fun couple of days. And we should be having lots more because of the upcoming holidays and Cody's birthday. This is my favorite time of the year, and I'm so glad I get to spend it all with Cody! I love being married.. it's so fun.

Ready for Christmas!

2008-10-18T00:02:00.002-05:00

We have a Christmas tree! I've been hunting for one that will fit in our little apartment, and I finally found it at Lowe's. I know it's October, but it's never too early to start shopping for Christmas stuff! I even went to Hobby Lobby and bought 3 boxes of ornaments. Only 6 more weeks until we can put it up and decorate. I found a Cowboys ornament for Cody so he has to help me decorate, even if he is just hanging the one ornament.

Cody comes home tomorrow - FINALLY! He's been in Vegas all week at a conference for work. I've been lonely, but I really haven't had much time to miss him because I've been SO busy with school. My unit plan is almost done. I only have 2 more lessons to teach.... and the music teacher is evaluating me.... weird. And now for a strange moment we had in the middle of reading "Sarah, Plain and Tall" today.

Mrs. C: Would you please take that gum out of your mouth?
Kid: No, umm...it's not gum.
Mrs. C: Then what is it?
Kid: It's my fingernail.

Ugh.. these kids are so gross sometimes. I've seen two kids this week yank their teeth out and gush blood all over the place. Nothing grosses me out more than pulling teeth. One girl keeps telling me she throws up in her mouth a little. I mean really.. gross. I don't want to hear it, but I guess it comes with the job.....

OK - enough for today. Maybe Cody will come home with some good pictures for me to put up on here... check back...all 3 of you who read this = )

Diets Don't Work, Weight Watchers Does

2008-10-13T21:44:00.003-05:00

YAY - so I've lost 3 pounds! I know it doesn't seem like a lot, but it does to me! As long as I see the numbers getting smaller, it will make me try harder! I have 14 more pounds to go before I reach my goal weight. I'd actually like to go lower... so we'll see how this works out first. Too bad Thanksgiving and Christmas are so soon... I'm not sure how I'll be able to resist all the yummy desserts!

Anyway - enough about being chubby... I'm offically done with 1/3 of my student teaching! I should really be halfway done - but the hurricanes messed that up. I have to do my unit plan this week...that should be interesting. And there are 79 more days until graduation. That sounds so far away. Oh well.. I'm excited!

I'll finish this with a school story. I took up a kid's note today that he was writing while I was teaching. It said, "Do you like me? Will you kiss me?" Oh the joys of teaching boys and girls who are discovering each other... haha. These kids are really cracking me up!

Squall

2008-10-08T20:48:00.003-05:00

The last couple of days at school were spent writing sentences with our new vocabulary words. Squall was one of them, so here's the definition and a sentence one of my students wrote:

squall (n.) - a strong gust of wind that arises very suddenly

"Do you know what a squall mean?"

I saw this and immediately started laughing because Cody and I had just talked about writing sentences like that when we were in elementary school. Our most commonly used sentence would be something more like this:

"Squall is one of our vocabulary words."

Later on in the day, I was having a conversation about the word squall to help a boy write his sentence. He kept trying to say it, but he just couldn't say it right. He said, "I don't know how y'all say that word. My teeth are too big to say it right." I've never heard that one before... it's so hard to not laugh at these kids in front of their face. Poor babies. They are so cute though! Even when we decorate the room with large wood paddles. = )

Wedding Pictures

2008-10-05T18:37:00.003-05:00

If there is anyone out there with digital pictures from my wedding - let me know! I'd like to see them! THANKS!

Ike Hurrication

2008-09-24T20:18:00.008-05:00

Thanks to Ike, we had another vacation! This time it was longer, but it got old pretty fast... there are only so many times you can eat out... Here's a picture of our first night in Grand Prairie. Mickey ordered the hugest meal I've ever seen. It was so big, it was worthy of a photo (it looked way bigger in person)!

The second day was the Dallas World Aquarium. Carrie was totally excited about it!

Cody thought I should take a picture by my twin - a sloth.
These sharks freaked me out. I don't know what they were called though...
I have no idea what this is but it was weird looking, too!
The scariest animal at the zoo - CODY!
Another picture from the many restaurants we visited on our hurrication.
We found a Freebirds!!!!! I finally made my own art with the burrito foil.
One day we went to the Fort Worth Stockyards. We missed the best part of it though because we didn't really what we were doing there. But we did run into a huge cow and took a picture with him!
We went to the Dallas Galleria. Not my favorite mall ever, but we decided to ice skate while there. Amiee never let go of that wall!! I tried to teach her how to skate, but it didn't work out well.
I don't remember how she fell, but it was funny!
So after our fun trip in the Dallas area, we headed home after we found out we had power. Of course we stopped by the #1 Christmas store in Texas first to pick up a few decorations! = ) We got home to our lovely apartment with an extremely stinky refrigerator! We left meat in the freezer thinking we would only be gone for a day or two... I will never again do that! Even if it's a false alarm - all meat will be thrown away!

Anyway - most things are back to normal around here. Well, except for the restaurants that have limited menus. Not that we need to be eating at restaurants anyway. I swear, I have gained a few pounds while gone. It's time for a diet. The diet of choice this time is Weight Watchers. I've done it before, and it works. I got a free trial to the WW Online, and it's really neat! It also gave me access to the WW store so I could buy the newest point books! I'm actually excited about doing it. I guess putting this info out in public will hold me accountable. Maybe. Hopefully. We'll see.

Ok - time to get back to reading Breaking Dawn... so good so far! Team Edward.. haha!

Mean Mrs. Bean

2008-09-05T18:35:00.006-05:00

I have been student teaching for just 5 days now. Today was my first day to change someone's color! It felt great, too. Too bad he had already had 3 color changes by other teachers... I can't wait to do it again! = )

Gustav Shopping Vacation in San Marcos

2008-09-03T12:25:00.005-05:00

One week after Cody and I left San Antonio, we had to head right back in that direction to evacuate because of Hurricane Gustav. After driving in the middle of the night through crazy back roads with Cody's family, we ended up at our hotel in San Marcos. During our stay, we shopping at the outlet mall, went to Gruene, and ate a lot. Although trip was unnecessary, we had fun!
Everyone played dress up in J.Crew except for Carrie and me...

I found these amazing sunglasses in Gruene!

On this day, Cody and I had been married for 3 months! : )

Mini Vacation

2008-08-23T21:33:00.006-05:00

Cody and I decided to take a mini vacation before it was time for me to start school, so we went to San Antonio this past week. We had such a good time! On Wednesday, we started our trip out by stopping in Houston at Freebird's (one of Cody's favorite places to eat). When we made it to SA, we walked around the Riverwalk, found the Alamo, and ate at Paesano's.

Thursday was Schlitterbahn day! It didn't rain at all, so it was perfect!

Friday, we went to Fiesta Texas. I love a good roller coaster! Since it was so hot, everyone headed to the waterpark and there ended up being no lines at all for the rides. By the time we got ready to head to the waterpark to cool off, the clouds started rolling in. We made it one time around the lazy river when the lifeguards yelled at us to get out. It started raining and lightening really bad, so they were closing the park down. We spent a good 5 hours there before we had to leave. After getting cleaned up, we headed for Riverwalk again to hang out. Cody found the Cowboys game while I shopped at the mall : )

Now we are back and it's almost time for my semester of student teaching to begin. I've waited a long time for this, but I'm not ready!! I don't even know what to expect. I know it will all be fine, but I'm just scared. I only have 119 days until graduation! Woohoo!!

Cake Decorating Class

2008-08-23T21:06:00.005-05:00

In July, Carrie and I took a cake decorating class at Hobby Lobby. The classes were lots of fun, but staying up until midnight the night before making cake and gobs of icing was not all that great. It was a lot more work that I expected, but we made it through! So here's a few picture of our class one day and all of my cakes.

Carrie and me!

Making the rose base

Carrie trying to make her rose base.. haha

We were the class clowns - definitely louder than the rest of the class!!

Carrie and me working on our rainbows

My first cake!

I didn't love this cake. They made us use clown heads...

My last cake.. I used every color I made. By this point, I was sick of cakes and just made it look tacky!

Here We Go!

2008-08-12T17:52:00.000-05:00

So... we are making a blog just like the rest of the family! More posting later... it's time to cook dinner for my husband!