Spring Break

The kids and I in front of the museum on our "fake" trip. :)

This is Nick and the kids right before we left the museum.

This has been a wonderful week! We have had gorgeous warm weather all week and Kaden has been home for Spring break. I was going to make plans all week full of fun things to do but then didn't really and I am so glad I didn't. Kaden and Presleigh have played (for the most part) wonderfully together. They have had so much fun playing upstairs together with little screaming and aggravating involved. :) Monday morning they just stayed in their p.j.'s and built tents and basically drug out all kinds of toys all over creation upstairs. I didn't care though because they were having fun together. Monday night at the dinner table Presleigh said her fun thing for the day was "playing with bubba". :) Nick took Wednesday off and we attempted to go to the Fort Worth children's museum. This was a huge mistake! We were there for about 5 minutes and then I found a man and asked him if we could have our money back. There was a TON of people. I was thinking the whole time that I should have known it would be crazy on Spring break. :) The nice man gave us "raincheck" tickets and we will be taking Kaden out of school Monday and going back while everyone is at school. Nick has the day off. We have enjoyed our relaxing and fun Spring break.

Feels Like Home

This past Saturday I got to have lunch with 3 of my favorite girls, Jamie, Ashley and Melissa. We met at On The Border and had the most wonderful lunch. I told Nick when I came home that being with them "feels like home". It sounds kind of corny but it is true. I will not see one of them for months, sometimes even a year, but I would share anything with these girls. Each one holds such a special place in my heart. I did not want our lunch to end and the whole way home I just kept thanking the Lord for them. I can not express how thankful I am to have each of them in my life this many years later.

I met Jamie in I think 6th grade Sunday School class. Her parents were our teachers. That is also one of my first rememberances of Nick. I remember because it seemed like Nick and Jamie were friends. Jamie and I went to Florida, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina together with our church youth group. I have such happy memories with her. She is a precious friend.

I met Ashley through Melissa in Junior High. I first got to know Ashley real well when we all went to Port Aransas together one summer. It was the summer of '98 before 10th grade. The four of us went with Jamie's mother and friend. We had a fabulous time and ever since then Ashley and I have been friends. If anyone ever asked me who the kindest person I know is Ashley would immediately come to mind. She is so kind and sweet and caring.

I met Melissa in 8th grade in our speech class. We had to fill out some silly get to know you paper and we both had written that we had to blow dry our naturally curly hair straight. :) We have been friends ever since. When I think of my fondest or best memories in Junior High and High School Melissa is in them all. Even after school. She was there when Kaden was born and came as quick as she could when Presleigh was born (she came quick!). :) I will never forget how I felt seeing her after I had Presleigh. I was also at the hospital when both of her girls were born. Her friendship blesses me so much.

I don't see or talk to these girls near as much as I would like but I know they will always be there for me. I love them all!

This is Ashley, Jamie, Melissa and I. Jamie's baby girl, Anna Grace, was hiding in her baby carrier behind us and Briley, Melissa's daughter, is standing next to me. She came at the end of our lunch.

Jamie is moving to Virginia and then New York with her husband and two boys and little girl. We will miss her! However, we are all going to visit her for a girls weekend/week. :)

Kodi Bear

We have had Kodi now for almost one month. He will be 12 weeks old tomorrow. I had no idea how much work a puppy was going to be! I have thought (almost daily) that I wanted him gone! :) However, he is a sweet puppy and really the hardest thing has been potty training, which is why I have had such a hard time. The past 2 days have been SO much better and I am hopeful he is finally catching on. I am truly glad we have him and watching the kids and Nick with him has been so much fun. I have had lots of people, even strangers, tell me to hang in there because he will be so worth it. Those words are encouraging to me. :) We decided that our puppy looked like a little bear cub to us. Since Kodiac is a type of bear we used Kodi for short. I can not tell you how many people have stopped me and told me they thought I was holding a stuffed animal until he moved. :) He really is the cutest dog I have ever seen. The kids really wanted to name him Brownie and I liked Bear (Go Bears! ) and the only name we all could agree on was Kodi.

This is Kodi at 8 weeks of age. That raccoon is one of his all time fav. toys!

A little snuggle time with Kaden. I love this picture! This is why I wanted a puppy for my kids so badly. :)

Kodi at 10 weeks of age. He is now even bigger and my vet, which also happens to be a friend and Theta sister from Baylor, thinks he may be more medium in size than mini.

The kids with Kodi in his crate. I love this crate! :)

I wanted to end with a sweet family picture. My brother-in-law, Randy, got married this past weekend to a precious girl that we love! Kaden got to be be a ring bearer and Presleigh Joy was a flower girl in Aunt Lori and Uncle Randy's wedding.

Our chocolate puppy

Today we went to Lone Grove, Oklahoma to see our puppy!! When we got there, Niki (our breeder) was waiting on the porch with our new puppy. We went inside and the kids immediately wanted to hold him. They went back and forth with whose turn it was. :) He is PRECIOUS and I think the cutest puppy/dog I have ever seen. I know I am biased. :) Presleigh Joy could not keep her sweet hands off of him. If it wasn't her turn to hold him she had to touch him. Several times we would catch her just hugging/squeezing him because she loved him so much. Kaden was a little more apprehensive but loved holding him and got more and more comfortable with him the more he held him. I have been so excited about taking the kids to see him and it was everything I had hoped for and more. They had a blast and now we are all anxious to take him home next weekend!! I took a ton of pictures but just posted a few b/c I know we will have lots more to share after next weekend. We do not have a name yet. We are working on it and will hopefully all four come to an agreement on a name soon. :)

Puppy Love :)

San Francisco and Napa

I got the opportunity to go to San Franciso with Nick the beginning of May. He was there on business for a few days meeting with some doctors that he works with. I almost did not go because once we booked the trip I found out it was Mother's Day weekend and that my kids would be singing on Sunday morning at church (Presleigh's first time). However, thanks to the convincing and help of my sister-in-law I decided to go. The kids stayed with their Aunt Charla, Uncle Tony, cousin Lilah, and Gramma and away I flew. I am so glad I went! It was kind of a whirlwind because I was there one night and Nick and I did a lot of driving around sight-seeing and eating yummy food and then we came home. :)Hilly San Franciso with Alcatrez in the background.


Alcatrez ( hope I'm spelling that right) :)

As of this moment I can't remember the name of this restaurant we ate at Friday night but it was beautiful and yummy and right off of the harbor.

View from our hotel room

San Francisco's golden gate bridge

On our way to Napa Valley Saturday morning we went over the golden gate bridge.

Most beautiful little town in Napa Valley, called Yountville. This is the restaurant we ate at, the French laundry. I personally had never heard of it but apparently it is famous. :)

Waiting in the courtyard.

This is Nick and I with Dr. Ali and his wife Mary. Meeting Dr. Ali and his wife was the whole reason I flew out to California. Dr. Ali had made reservations for the 4 of us months ahead of time to try and get into this place and they wanted me to join them. Dr. Ali is a cardiologist in Lubbock and when Nick was still a TFE for Medtronic he worked with him often. Now that Nick is a sales rep. he rarely travles to Lubbock. They are very kind and have two youngs girls.

The garden across the street where the restaurant, Chinese Laundry, grows a lot of its food

Nick and I in front of the restaurant. It took us about 5 hours to eat here. It was a 9 course lunch/dinner!

Well.... because our amazing lunch/dinner was so long we missed our flight home! I was quite upset at first because I was afraid I would miss the kids singing at church and not only that but on mother's day. Nick figured it out though, as he awlays does, and we left in the middle of the night and arrived about 6 a.m. Texas time.

The reason we rushed home from San Francisco! Tht is Kaden singing in the white shirt.

Presleigh and her cousing Lilah in their matching dresses that Gramma gave them. Presleigh has the pink bow.

Our little performer! Presleigh loves to be on stage and very much enjoyed singing!

June Bugs for Breakfast

My son literally gags on pasta. It is probably one of his least favorite things. He will always try some but it usually ends with gagging. However, he LOVES to eat June Bugs! Kaden has always been "mister outdoors" and loves to go on adventures and exploring. He has also always loved insects and bugs. Lately, however, he has become interested in eating them. He has also become very interested in Bear Grylls, "Man vs. Wild" that comes on the discovery channel. He has seen him from some youtube clips Nick has shown him. That guy will eat all kinds of nasty things. Kaden loves it!

This is a very excited Kaden about to eat a June Bug that Nick fried up for him.

In the mouth it goes!

Hmmm... that's tasty!

He has had several more since. :)