barrett business

The Adventures of Jake

2011-10-12T10:10:00.000-07:00

Jake had a fun-filled summer. He had sleep-overs with friends, watched lots of movies and did some traveling. After Drew's parents spent some time here with us, he drove back with them to Alabama. I don't have any pictures from his stay, but he was living the life...... swimming every day, eating whatever he wanted, playing with friends, staying up late, and all those great things you get to do with your grandparents. At the end of his stay, he flew home all by himself. I was a little nervous about this, but he thought it would be a great adventure. When I picked him up at the airport, the flight attendant who had been with him said, "He's a great kid.....and VERY amusing." I tried to find out from Jake what he did that was so amusing, but I didn't get far. He said, "I didn't do anything special. I was just myself." What was I expecting?

Pretending to be a Japanese boxer

Jake played coach-pitch baseball at the beginning of the summer. It was his first time to play and he did really well. He played first and second base a lot and was one of the best hitters on the team (and I'm not biased at all:). He had many great hits, RBI's and 4 home runs. He batted over 800 (Daddy kept track).

Jake and his buddy, Griffin

Getting ready to bat

His summer finally came to an end. He was not ready for school, but wanted to see all of his friends again, so he agreed to go:) You see, the work he has to do while he's in school really gets in the way of his social life. His most common comment on his daily folder is "Excessive talking." We're working on that. Heres a pic from the first day of school (I couldn't get a real smile:)..................

I took him to a photographer to have pictures made for Drew's Fathers Day gift. They turned out great, probably because he practiced his smile all afternoon (He was seriously worried about how his

smile would look:) He's my handsome little man..........

FUN TIMES in MeXiCo

2011-08-23T07:55:00.000-07:00

The water was SOO blue.

Jake being silly.

Well, I don't even know where to begin since I haven't posted in almost 2 years. Its been a busy year but we've had some really fun times. Most recently, we went on a family trip to Mexico with my parents and my brother. It was AMAZING, and we didn't want to come home! We stayed at an All-Inclusive Resort and, even though we planned to venture out to a nearby town, we stayed at the resort the whole time. There was plenty to do there, between 12 pools, many restaurants, activites and, of course, the beach. Mom and I are both bad about remembering our cameras, so there aren't that many pictures of us on the beach, but heres a few that we did get................

During the day, there are 2 big buffets to eat at and a grill on the beach. But at night, we ate (some really good food) at one of their many restaurants. This is before dinner at the Japanese Restaurant.

The wind was blowing this morning, so these pictures are sandy.........

Nonny beating the boys at cards.

Another night we actually remembered to take pictures............

Jake dancing as usual.

I wonder where Jake gets his mischevious grin..........

The main entrance of the hotel. The grounds were so green and colorful. (Unlike our dead yard back in Texas:)

By the third day, we were all at least a little sunburned, so we spent some time under a tree on the beach. This was my favorite day because we just all hung out together and relaxed. Jake even took a nap on a beach chair under the shade (which doesn't happen often:).

Jake was also a monkey for part of the trip :) Me and my bro

We saw some cool animals, including this racoon, the bird and a monkey (a real one;)

Thanks Mom and Dad!!!!!!!!!! I miss Mexico. So, its back to reality. Jake started 3rd grade yesterday (which is crazy, because he was just a little toddler like yesterday. And according to PawPaw, he's still in Kindergarten;). We've also had some other fun times to share..... So I will be posting more pics and stuff soon!

Christmas, Jake Turns SEVEN!

2010-01-25T17:53:00.000-08:00

Well, its only a month after Christmas so I'm doing pretty good. Christmas was a little different this year because I had to work Christmas Eve. Jake and Drew drove out to Bama ahead of me the Monday before Christmas and I flew out to meet them in Birmingham on Christmas morning. I was afraid I might not get to go since it snowed all day on Christmas Eve while I worked and many flights had been cancelled that night..... but thankfully it cleared up enough by morning that it didn't effect my flight. We did the Lloyd family Christmas at his Grand Dad's house that day and our family Christmas that night. Jake was SO SWEET because he had decided that he didn't want to see what Santa had brought or open any presents until his Mommy got there. So he had Andrew get up that morning and put away all his "Santa stuff" so he wouldn't see it until that night when I could be there. :) :) :) As you can see, Timber had a great time opening presents..................So Andrew put everything back, just as Santa had it ;) And this was Jake's face when he came down stairs....... The Heisman pose................Santa knows how much he loves to wrestle and how important it is to protect your brain:) So he got Jake headgear. He was so creative and spelled out Jake's name with chocolate candy. And got him a UFC champion belt for when he beats his Daddy in wrestling.

Sarah got to come home from Japan! We were so glad she was there too.

Andrew's friend Mark came by to visit. They've known each other since they were little kids.Jake challenged Mark to a wrestling match. And I'm not real sure why he's not wearing his new head gear. ?? Looks like he probably needed it right about now.

By the way, we didn't do Christmas cards this year (or a tree or any decorations- because they're all in the very back of our storage unit) .... so thats why you didn't get one from us:)

We celebrated Jake's birthday while we were in Bama. Jake chose to invite his friend Will and his brother Joshua over for his party and then they went to Pump It Up.

The boys had a lot of fun together and they invited Jake to spend the night so he was really excited about that. I still can't believe he's SEVEN, that makes me feel really old!The weekend of New Years Mom, Dad and Clayton came up from Austin for our family Christmas. We played with Jake's games and had a lot of fun -

I never though to get out my camera and take pictures. But here are some from Thanksgiving when we went to Main Event. Thats right- Jake got second in bowling and I beat Clayton!

Look Out 1st Grade........

2009-08-27T10:20:00.000-07:00

Here comes Jacob, or should I say JB.... thats what he recently told us we COULD call him. "You call me Jake and Jay a lot, Mom. So it's either Jacob or..... JB. You can call me JB for now on."

So he started FIRST GRADE this past week (which I can't believe) and the first day came with some pleasant surprises. We searched through the class lists to find that, not only is Emma in his class (his best friend:), but his teacher is Miss Cole again!!! She was his teacher last year and she moved up to teach 1st grade this year. His class is also very small - only about 11 or 12 kids, which we are very excited about. Reading and math will be individualized for each child, so if he continues to do so well with his reading, he'll be able to keep moving up levels. He got a "smiley face" every day this week and came home in a great mood, so we are hoping for a great, successful year :)

VACATION!

2009-07-23T18:42:00.000-07:00

Jake & Bubba after watching "Up" in3-D
Jake is pretending to be a grandpa :)

I had 20 days off of work for vacation.... SO nice! And SOO hard to go back;) We were gone almost that whole time. First we spent a week in Austin with Mom and Dad. While we were there, we all went down to San Antonio for a few days. We went to the Childrens Museum, the Alamo and the Riverwalk one day and then to Sea World for two days. It was a lot of fun....... Jake rode almost all of the rides (except two of the fast roller coasters) and loved them! His favorite was the Atlantis, which is a big boat that goes up really high and drops down a HUGE hill and splashes in the water. He really enjoyed the water park there too. His favorites things there were the body slides and the wave pool. He also liked being able to 'stay the night' with Nonni and PawPaw in their hotel room. He had us all laughing pretty hard one day at the hotel when he came to our room with mom and dad, knocked on the door and said in a high pitched voice, "Room service... Hot coffee and massage." Dad said, "What kind of hotels have yall been staying in?" But we got Andrew a massage gift certificate for Fathers Day, so I'm pretty sure that is where that came from. :)On the Riverwalk The boys at the Alamo Nonni showing us how she answers the phones at work:)Jake milking a 'cow' at the Childrens Museum

We had one day at home to unpack, do laundry and repack before driving to Alabama for a week. We got to spend some time with cute little babies....... at the hospital with our friends Josh and Jennie after they had their fourth daughter. We also stayed the night with Alan and Sandahlyn and their adorable new son, Ridge who was four weeks old. He was such a sweet baby and so cute!! I think he just might have helped to kick Andrew's 'baby fever' into motion:) We had a really great visit with all our family and friends. Jake spent a lot of time at Uncle David and Aunt Carol's house in the pool and has become a really great swimmer. He even started doing front and back flips off the diving board (good thing I wasn't there to witness that:) When it was time to come home, Pop and Bobbi told Jake he could stay at there house by himself for another week or so and they would bring him home. He "thought about it for a while" and decided he would. So he had his own little vacation for a week (and so did Mommy and Daddy:)

CHICK TRIP: bath houses, diamonds and pink poodles

2009-07-04T19:11:00.000-07:00

I went with Carissa B. and her friend, Shannon on a much-needed chick-trip a few weeks ago to Hot Springs, Arkansas. What a fantabulous (thats my new word- because fantastic and fabulous just aren't good enough;) adventure we had!! It was a five hour road-trip and we made a detour before we got there, through a small town to dig for diamonds. That's right! We came equipped with our own tools and got our hands dirty, looking for real diamonds. Unfortunately, we walked away with just some nifty looking jasper and quartz stones, but I had the best time spending my imaginary fortune in my head while I was digging for it :) Carissa was REALLY pumped as we got ready to dig.....We were excited to arrive at the historical Arlington Hotel on the main strip in Hot Springs. It has one of the few running bath houses left there in the city and part of our package for staying in the hotel was to have a mineral bath and massage. The whole bath house experience was quite unique and one that must be told in proper Misty form- in person, for the full-effect:) But it was overall relaxing and we can now mark it off of our to-do list. (Next is sky-diving, by the way.) We went on a dinner cruise one night and saw some really pretty views. We spent the rest of the trip eating at great little restaurants, going to tons of shops, laying by the pool and hanging out. Carissa and I always have so much fun together. And I am so glad to have met her friend Shannon. She is such a sweet person, who loves God and is fun to be around. Here is a pic of our hotel........ This is the ceiling in one of the bath houses........And I can't forget Katie Belle, the pink poodle! We saw her at Snazzie's (one of the shops we went into a couple of times). She has been dyed pink (with some kind of cake frosting) since she was a puppy. She was so cute........ And don't feel bad for the boys......... Drew and Jake spent that weekend with our friends Dustin and Jill at their lake house. I don't have any pictures, but Andrew said they had a blast. Jake loved jumping off the diving board into the lake and swimming around with their dog Macy Lou ("the Lou dog"). We are looking forward to going out there for a weekend with them sometime soon!

--We just home from a two week, multi-state vacation, but I'm too tired to post anymore. So, to be continued......

Catching Up

2009-05-22T14:03:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to post for weeks but haven't had a chance to sit at the computer and do it. So let me catch yall up on whats been going on at the Barrett house. I celebrated my 6th Mothers Day this year and the guys made it very special for me. After church they took me to lunch and Jake was very sweet. He told me I am the "best mommy in the whole wide world." When we got home, they gave me a card and gifts that Jake had picked out himself. The card shows Jake's personality all the way.... I laughed so hard, tears came to my eyes. The best part was it was a birthday card, and he knew it! He said, "Do you think its funny, Mommy? I know its a birthday card, but I had to get it for you because it was too cute and funny." I had to sleep for a while after that so I could go to work that night. When I woke up, Jake surprised me with the most beautiful purple tulips........ Aren't they just the sweetest? Timber had to get in for a picture. He can't stand to be left out and, as you can see, his fur is already growing back in from his haircut a few weeks ago.

The next day there was a Mothers Day tea party at Jake's school. The moms were "queen" for the day so Jake made me a crown. He also wrote a poem called "I Love My Mommy Because" and read it to me in front of his class. It was really sweet!

Jake is enjoying the end of this kindergarten semester, but counting down the days 'til summer! He has grown and learned so much this year. He is reading on a second grade level now and his brain never stops working! He loves playing Wii games and his favorite toys right now are a tiger and his action heroes. We missed the sign-up for soccer, but he has been playing football and baseball with daddy a lot lately. His famous long, shaggy hair is no longer. He decided it was time for something new, so last weekend he got a faux-hawk. He looks "awesome" :) I added a few new quotes, so be sure to check out his latest comments.

Easter.....just a 'lil bit late :)

2009-04-30T01:50:00.000-07:00

We had a great Easter weekend in Austin with Nonni, Paw Paw and Sugar. We went to a Round Rock Express Baseball game one night. Jake had a blast watching the game and it didn't take him long to find their kid-friendly zone with a rock-climbling wall, bouncy house, playground and other cool things to do. He climbed the rock wall, which was his first time, and he did a great job! After the game there was a fireworks show to top it all off. Nonni made a great lunch for us on Saturday :) And Jake had an Easter egg hunt after church on Sunday. We tried to make it tough for him this year so it took a little while for him to find the last few. We had a nice, relaxing weekend and, as usual, Jake tried to bring Sugar home with us when we left :)

Spring Break

2009-03-25T15:07:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA NANCY, SWEET AND FANCY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Last week my Grandma celebrated her 60th birthday and our family came together to throw her a surprise party. It was a great time celebrating with her. Here are a few things you need to know about my grandma: she is an amazing cook. She used to own and run a cafe and kept everyone fed in our little town. If you come over to her house, she will cook up anything you want (her pancakes and 'Angel' biscuits are the best.... the list could go on and on). She gives great back- scratches:) She loves purses and usually has one big enough to carry EVERYTHING she could possibly need. She'll listen anytime you need to talk. She told me and Clayton we could have any pet we wanted at her house (but mom and dad vetoed that anyway). She's really good at Rummy and she WILL get mad if you try to cheat (I only know this because of Clayton:) She loves her kids and grandkids and she loves the Lord with all her heart. I love you, Gma!

Last week we also went to a wedding for a friend of mine. Nicole and I have known each other since we were wee-little. Our parents and grandparents knew each other when they were young too, so we've always been like family. Her wedding was beautiful and we had a great time at the reception. Heres a pic of me and the beautiful bride................ Congratulations Nicole and Michael!!!

Me and my cousin Angela at the wedding...........
Jake and his cousin Kaden kept each other entertained at the reception.......This past week was Jake's first Spring Break and he got to travel to Alabama to stay with his Pop and Bobbi by himself!! (We met them half-way and then they brought him back at the end of the week.) He had a great time! They went with some friends to the zoo, had a picnic outside and he got to play in his daddy's old treehouse in the backyard. Pop and Bobbi said he was great all week. When they drove him back, they got to stay with us for a few days so we could all hang out. We tried to take them to Reunion Tower but found out it is still under construction, so went to an area in Downtown Dallas to walk around and had dinner outside on a patio. Heres Jake riding an alligator............He has many Transformer toys that are extremely difficult to actually 'transform', but the other day he finally sat down and did this one all by himself in no time. He was SO proud :)Jake and Timber with their matching band-aids..........Timber also had an exciting week...... he got his first haircut. He always sheds so bad this time of year, so we decided to shave him. Instead of paying a groomer $50-$75 for one time, we decided to buy a whole razor kit and learn to do it ourselves so we can do it again. Hehehehehehe...... wish we had this experience on video. Poor Timber looked like a mangy mutt there for a few days. But we worked out the kinks and figured out how to use the different blades and guards and learned that something with THAT MUCH FUR is gonna take a while!!! And, of course we had to give Timber a cut that went with his personality. So we gave him a mohawk...........

Girl Time :)

2009-03-11T20:51:00.000-07:00

I had the most amazing and relaxing weekend! I got to stay a night at the Glenview Inn.... a.k.a my cousin Carissa's house. We have been wanting to plan a girl's night for a while and finally got our chance, and she spoiled me!!! When I got there, she cooked dinner while I listened to music and took a bubble bath in the jacuzzi tub. She is a really great cook! She made oven-fried chicken, veggies, scalloped potatoes and rolls. And to top it all off, she made her famous bundt brownies for dessert. We had a great time talking and hanging out as always. Her whole house is decorated so cute and always smells amazing! I slept in the guest room and felt like I was in a bed & breakfast, with fresh cut flowers on the night stand and all. I woke up the next morning to the smell of eggs, bacon, biscuits and fresh fruit. Ahhh.... it was soooo nice!!! She's just the best!!!

When I got back home on Saturday evening, Drew went to watch UFC with some friends so Jake and I had a 'movie night.' We ate popcorn and apples and watched the old-school animated Transformers movie (his choice:). Sunday was a beautiful day and, for once, we remembered to set our clocks forward so we made it to church on time! Jake and I had a really fun afternoon together. We ate lunch at Corner Bakery and had some really good talks about many different things. He has been learning Bible verses at church, so he was very proud that he could recite one for me. From there we went to Target and Jake got to spend some $$$$ that he has been saving for a while now. He chose to buy a new Light Saber (since his last one didn't make it in the fall from the second story breeze-way at the apartments). :) He hasn't tried any stunts lately though, so we're just happy about that.

Barrett Business lately....

2009-02-19T17:14:00.000-08:00

We have finally gotten settled into our apartment. Just today, I put away the last of the random little things that remained on our dining table. This has become our new little home. We love the Las Colinas area. We are right down the street from the canals and the equestrian. Soon after we moved in, Andrew found running/biking trails that run next to a river that are also very close to us. That's something we all enjoy. Jake and Timber LOVE it!! Drew runs ahead with Timber on the leash and Jake rides his bike, with me running behind. We're looking forward to Spring weather so we can spend more time out there.

Jake settled into his new school right away. He really likes his new teacher and has made many new friends. They have done reading and math testing this past month and Jake had great scores. He is also doing AWESOME with reading!!! We can't spell around him anymore, unless we want him to know exactly what we're talking about:) His teacher said he is on a first grade reading level, so she will be sending home some more difficult books for his reading assignments.
We are so proud of him!!!

I haven't downloaded any of my newer pics, but heres some cute ones from Thanksgiving of Jake and Sugar..........

Kryptonite Strikes

2009-02-10T20:51:00.000-08:00

Jake has been pushing the limit lately with his Superman stunts. Drew caught him climbing a wall in our apartment complex a couple weeks ago. He was actually scaling it, more like Spiderman, but with a toy sword in one hand. The wall goes up about 15 FEET HIGH. He (proudly) made it to the top then climbed over a fence and, of course, never dropped the sword!!! (Until he was at the top, because then he wanted to see it fall that far). Luckily, I did not witness this incident, but of course Andrew explained to him why he could NEVER do that again.

On Friday afternoon, he pulled yet another stunt that about scared us to death. He was playing in his room when we heard a crash and him scream like we've never heard before. We ran in there to find him on the floor in his closet. He was screaming and crying so much that he couldn't talk to tell us what happened. On the floor next to him was a small suitcase, a sleeping bag and a blanket- all things that are usually on the top shelf of his closet (above the highest bar where his clothes hang), which is 8 feet high.
-Long story short, he had climbed up to that shelf to hide from us and see how long it would take us to find him, and he fell off HEAD FIRST. He was screaming because his head and left ear were hurting so bad and he couldn't move his left arm because his shoulder hurt. So we took him to the E.R. at Children's and we were there for six long hours. We called our parents and had them praying right away. At first, he was groggy and confused and we were really scared, but after a little while, he was responsive and acting more like himself. After the first couple hours he started moving his left arm a little. He had a scratch inside his ear canal, but no sign of major head trauma. He left with no broken bones or even any bruises we could see. He most likely had a mild concussion and I had to wake him up a couple times that night to make sure he was okay, which he was. We got home really late that night and, as expected, he fell asleep in the car. We thought he would probably sleep in really late the next morning..... he woke me up at 7:30am Saturday morning with a smile on his face and asked if he could lay with me. After a few minutes, he looked at me and said, "My head REALLY needs to watch some cartoons."

We are so thankful he wasn't seriously hurt, but we also know he is ALLL Boy and thats not the last time he'll put his Superman britches on.

Christmas, Jake's 6th Birthday and Our Upcoming Move

2008-12-29T22:01:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a VERY Merry Christmas! We had a GREAT Christmas with our families!! First we got to spend time with Drew's parents the week before Christmas. It was suppose to be our year to go out to Bama for Christmas, but since we have to move in a few days and everything has been kinda up-in-the-air until recently, we knew it would be best if we didn't make another road trip. So Ken and Judy were nice enough to come out here. They helped us with a lot of packing and got to spend time with Jake. He had fun teaching them both how to play the Wii. We got to have Christmas with them before they left and had a really great visit!

Timber loved playing with the paper and bows as we opened presents. This was when he discovered he had a piece of paper taped to his tail.....And this is him trying to get it off.........

I am still working nights at my job in Dallas and this year I had to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It was kinda stinky, but Mom, Dad and Clayton came to our house on Christmas Eve, so they were here with Drew and Jake. When I got home from work on Christmas morning, everyone got up to see what Santa brought Jake and we did our family Christmas together. We had a great time and it was hard for me to go to bed later that morning, but I was really tired and had to go back to work that night. So I went to sleep and my parents and Drew took Jake to the "big movies."

The fun doesn't end on Christmas around here..... Jake's birthday is December 26th. This year he turned SIX years old! I still can't believe my baby is six.... going on 26 :) My parents wrote that in his birthday card and it is SOO true. He's gettin a lil big for his britches.... but thats another story. Actually, I could write a book ;) Here's Paw Paw trying to help Jake figure out a new toy, and Jake telling Paw Paw what he wants it to do. (And Paw Paw telling Jake why it can't do what he wants it to do:) For his birthday, we wanted to do somethis different and special so we went to Medieval Times. It was a blast and Jake loved it! Ours was the Black & White Knight, who defeated the Green Knight and won in the end. (Jake was very excited about that)

Me & my brother, Clayton

Carissa, Mom, Dad, Me, Clayton, Drew, Jake & his buddy Derrion

Aunt Carissa & Jake

The coolest part..... Jake got KNIGHTED by the King!!!!! (He looks a little concerned here:)

This past weekend, we all went up to Grandma & Poppa's house in Aubrey for our big family Christmas. Grandma made a really great lunch with turkey and dressing and all kinds of good stuff. We hung out all day, played games, played with baby Gracie (who is so cute and has gotten so big), and had a really great time together. I forgot my camera, so I didn't get any pictures. We have been so blessed with amazing families here in Texas and in Alabama and we are so thankful for that!

And, to update everyone on our moving situation.... We decided to go to Alaska, but it turned out to be too late... the position at the hospital had already been filled. There aren't any other travel nurse positions open right now in any mountain areas so..... plan B: We are moving into an apartment in Las Colinas (North Dallas) for now. If a travel position comes up somewhere that we want to go in the next month, then we will jump on it. If not, we will stay in the apartment until the summer and then figure out plan C.

Whats been going on...............

2008-12-13T17:45:00.000-08:00

Its been almost a month since my last post.... that's because things have been really busy around our house. I wanted to update everyone on whats been going on. First of all, we SOLD our house and officially closed two days before Thanksgiving!! Our prayer was that a family would fall in love with our house and buy it quickly, but wouldn't want to move in until January. That's exactly what happened! We are so thankful for that! We are praying for direction and hoping that we can end up doing a whole lot of this......................... (This is a picture of Andrew at Snow Basin in Utah earlier this year)

Now the big question (that we've heard A LOT:) is "Where are we going???" Well, thats a goooood question and as soon as we figure out our plans, we cant wait to let everyone know! Turns out, there aren't many travel nursing jobs available for NICU right now, especially in the mountains which is where we want to be. We are considering an assignment in Anchorage, Alaska (which would be AWESOME). Whats holding us back is how difficult (and expensive) it would be to get out there. Its over 4100 miles from Dallas, meaning really expensive plane tickets or about an 8 to 10 day drive. If we choose not to go to Alaska and nothing else comes up in the next week or so, we plan to move into an apartment in North Dallas until we figure out the next step. So, stay tuned......

TOUCHDOWN TITANS!!

2008-11-15T22:00:00.001-08:00

Today Jake's flag football team had their last game of the season. It was 40 degrees when the game started at 8 a.m. this morning so, needless to say, all us Texans were in shock:) The Titans played a great game against the Cubs and on the last play, Jacob scored his first TOUCHDOWN!!!! His Daddy got it all on video, with Mommy screaming in the background and everything:)

Jake's trip to Austin = Operation Sanity Restoration

2008-11-03T01:42:00.000-08:00

Our little man Jake went to Nonny & PawPaw's house for the weekend. They took him to the Fall Festival at their church on Friday night (he was a Samurai) and he played games and got tons of candy. They took him shopping on Saturday and to the "big movies" to watch the new Chihuahua flick. He came home with bags full of new clothes, PJ's, toys and candy. He had a great time and said two nights was just not enough. I'll let you know how long it takes us to bring him back to reality now that he's back home:)

Drew and I had a great time while Jake was away. The house was SOO quiet. We went on a date Friday night which was really nice. We went to PF Chang's (our fave place) and decided to skip the movie theater and rent one instead (saving us like $20). We hung out all day Saturday watching football. Alabama beat Arkansas State (Andrew= happy) and then Texas lost to Texas Tech (me=sad), but that made Alabama move up to #1 in rankings (Andrew=REALLY happy).

Saturday night we went to a costume party for my friend's birthday and Drew got to meet many of the cool people I work with. The party was a lot of fun and we actually dressed up. We wanted to do something creative that we could put together at home, so- Andrew was a terrorist and I was the bomb.
I spray painted toilet paper rolls to make Drew's dynamite....

And my costume was complete with a duct-tape belt wrapped in red-electrical wire with a timer on the front....

This is me with my friend Paula.... My camera battery died right after we arrived so I didn't get many other pics.

It was really nice having time with Andrew this weekend while Jake was away and I almost did not know what to do with all the spare time I had from NOT having to answer Jake's million- questions-a-day:) But by Sunday evening I was missing the sound of footballs flying through the air & hitting the walls, boys yelling in the middle of wrestling moves while Timber is barking and trying to get in the middle of it, and hearing "Mommy...."

Go to For Keeps Design........

2008-10-22T11:53:00.000-07:00

ONLY 63 DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS, people!!Its that time of the year when everyone is trying to find and order their Christmas and Holiday cards. There is an awesome site called ForKeepsDesign that designs announcements, invitations, stationary, Holiday cards and much more. One of the designers is my close friend, Laura who does really great, creative graphic design work. After you choose your design and personalize your order, Laura and her design partner personally create your product to assure that every detail is correct. You will LOVE the results and enjoy sharing them with family and friends. They even have specials going on right now for only 0.99 cents!! So check out her website and place your order!!!

The Zoo; Sweet Baby Jacob; Football and fun with Ryan & Carissa

2008-10-18T19:07:00.000-07:00

We have been busy as usual the past week since we got back from Bama. Last Saturday Mom came up from Austin and we took Jake to the Fort Worth Zoo. It was the BEST time to go to the zoo. We usually go in the middle of the summer (when all the animals are lethargic), but the weather was perfect and the animals were all out and about. One of our favorites to watch are the monkeys and they put on quite a show for us! So did the baby tigers and some of the parrots...
Jake insisted that I take an action shot of him showing a 'peace' sign:)

The tiger cubs were wrestling the whole time. We watched them for a while and Jake kept shouting "Oooh! I'm pulling for the one in the water!" He LOVED looking at the 'snakey snakes'

This week I finally got to meet up with my friend Audrey and her new baby boy Jacob. We had lunch together with our friend Amanda and got to catch up. Jacob is SO precious and didn't make a peep the whole time!

He didn't like the flashing light too much on the camera, but he decided to wave here...
Our house is still For Sale and we have been showing it A TON!!! Seriously, its been on the market for three weeks and we've shown it 5-7 times a week. Even though its been really hard keeping the house clean and leaving on short notice, we are so thankful for all the traffic! We have two offers 'pending' right now and praying one works out. Because we have to take Timber with us each time we leave for a showing, we've been spending LOTS of time at the park. Friday night was very exciting for Timber! He had his first popsicle from the Icecream truck and he escaped his leash. He had the most amazing 45 seconds of freedom we have ever seen!
Jake had another football game yesterday morning. His team didn't score more touchdowns than the other team this week, but all the boys played hard and did an awesome job. Jake is doing so great with blocking for his teammates.
Yesterday afternoon Ryan and Carissa drove all the way out to our house to hang out with us. We were so excited!! Ryan watched his first Bama football game with Drew (and was exposed to serious football fever) and Carissa and I snuck away for some much needed shopping and girl time!

Family Pics from the beach

2008-10-10T22:12:00.001-07:00

We took a lot of pictures while we were at the beach this week, so I thought I would share some more with everyone............... Us and Sarah

I don't know if we were hugging, or about to 'throw down' Daddy & Jake-the-snake

Rachael & Jeremy's Wedding and our trip to the beach

2008-10-10T16:27:00.000-07:00

We made that long drive last week to Alabama for Rachael's wedding(Drew's cousin). We absolutely love Rachael and we are so glad she found an amazing guy like Jeremy. We got to Birmingham just in time to catch the end of their rehearsal dinner on Friday night. It was a fun event and we got to hear a lot of funny stories about both of them. It was a beautiful outdoor ceremony and Rachael looked amazing in her dress. There was a dinner and DJ at the reception and everyone had a really great time. We're very excited for Rach and Jeremy and we can't wait to go back to Bama and hang out with them as a couple!

As usual, we tried to see as many family and friends as possible while we were there. Here's a pic of Drew and Jake with Aunt Jodie and Uncle J.E.. Aunt Jodie made us a big dinner as soon as we got into Tuscaloosa on our way to the rehearsal dinner. We had a great time seeing friends in Tuscaloosa, Birmingham and Montgomery between Friday and Sunday.

Andrew's parents are renting a condo on Orange Beach in southern Alabama for the month of October. So on Sunday night we drove down (in their new, shiny red convertible!) and stayed with them and his sister Sarah, on the beach for a few days. It was a beautiful 3 bedroom, 4 bath condo with a big patio, right on the beach. Jake called it the "King-condo." There was an indoor pool, which turned out to be Jake's favorite thing to do. We spent a lot of time in the water, and Jake started swimming like a fish! He also learned how to dive and do a cannon-ball. He had a great time and ended every day looking like a raisin. We also spent some time on the beach and Jake found lots of cool seashells and played in the ocean.

Drew's sister, Sarah lives in Japan so we don't get to see her that often. We enjoyed hanging out with her at the wedding and the beach. Her birthday is coming up so we got to have a little party for her at the condo. We got to have some 'girl time' together with her mom as well, and went shopping all day at the outlet mall near the beach.

It was a fun, eventful week. The only bad thing was the long drive back home that we made in the middle of the night. It goes by faster when Jake is sleeping. He woke up at 9:00am this morning, as we're pulling into our driveway, and says, "Daddy, how'd you get here so fast?"

Some pics from the wedding......
"Mr. and Mrs. Jeremy Garrett"
She did a skit with the bridesmaids and sang R-E-S-P-E-C-T to Jeremy. It was hilarious

Me and my little man

Jake with his cousins, Ross and Gracie

Grand Dad and Jake at the reception With Drew and his cousins Daniel, Michael, and Amanda Drew was a bridesmaid wanna-be :) The happy couple

Jake with Copper (Mark's dog) Us with Drew's friend, Mark at his house in Montgomery This was our fun ride to the beach (the hot guy in the front seat is my husband) Jake after "another LOONG drive" One view from the patio of the condo
He found Nemo One of the MANY times Jake said "watch me, watch me"

Help a Scentsy-sista out....

2008-10-07T20:18:00.000-07:00

My friend Misty is an independent consultant for a company called Scentsy, which sells wickless (safe) candles. Heres a little bit about the company (from her website)...

"Scentsy “Makes Perfect Scents”. We are pioneering the move away from the smoky, sooty candles of today to safe, healthy, fun and creative ways to bring the scents that make us happy into our lives. We offer over 80 high quality fragrances delivered in a variety of ways. Our flagship product is the Authentic Scentsy Bar, an impressively fragrant wickless candle bar that is warmed in a warmer rather than burned with a flame.Each year thousands of homes are damaged or destroyed by burning candles. The enthusiastic response we receive from our customers, our consultants, and more particularly fire-fighters, reflects the nationwide concern over the devastation burning candles can cause. This was our initial motivation – to create a safe alternative to burning candles. Our passion has grown from offering a safe alternative to offering a better alternative. Going wickless has allowed us to offer the public a better, more cost effective method of scenting their world."

Misty is starting a new blog soley devoted to her Scentsy business, but she needs some help naming her blog. So go to her blog page.... http://toddandmisty.blogspot.com/ . Then vote for the name you like the best and you will be entered into a drawing to win a great Scentsy prize (a super-cute warmer with a fragrance of your choice). Then you can check out her website and the great products she has to offer.

I have a stun-gun and I'm NOT afraid to use it....

2008-10-01T17:01:00.000-07:00

So its was 7:30am this morning and I was driving home from the hospital when my car slowly starts driving weird and kinda shaking. I call Drew and tell him he's gonna have to get the car checked out today before we can drive it to Bama later this week. As soon as I get off the phone, I hear a noise near the front of the driver's side and it hits me, What if its my tire?? So I pull over onto the side of one of the many-busy-Dallas highways (and yes Grandma, I was way over- a safe distance from the 60 mph traffic:) I get out to discover... I was right, my tire had a huge gash in it and was COMPLETELY flat:(

So I call Drew to come help and he says he is about to drop Jake off at school and I knew I was still 20 minutes from home, so it would take a while. He tells me he's on his way, but to wait and see if anyone stops to help. "WHAT??!! I don't want help from some stranger! Thats how people get killed!" is my response. He calms me down, as usual, and I sit.... and wait. Minutes later an 18-wheeler pulls over in front of me, and..... well, I FREAK OUT! I don't know this person, he's probably a serial killer! My fear subsides (a little) as I realize, THIS could be my opportunity to FINALLY use my STUN-GUN!! Its situations like this that my dad equipped me with it.

So the man gets out his truck and asks if I have a spare. He's an older man who is friendly and seems like he really just wants to help me. So I take my hand off my stun-gun thats now in my scrub pocket. He gets the spare out of the trunk for me as a regular truck pulls over as well. Two men, probably about my age, get out and start helping the trucker. The trucker says he's going to let them take over and asks if its okay if he leaves. I say 'yes' and thank him repeatedly for stopping. He smiles, says 'no problem' and leaves in his truck. So now my attention is focused on these two men (who don't speak English, so I can't really talk to them) that just look up and smile now and then, while trying to get the original tire off. I'm standing in a large ditch on the other side of the car as I notice all the trash laying around. COME ON PEOPLE.... Don't mess with Texas, even my 5-year-old knows its not ok to "glitter".

So I go over to the other side of the car to monitor the progress and I see that the two guys are still having trouble getting one of the bolts off the original tire. I can't help but think how my dad would have already ripped that thing off with his bare hands! But I keep silent and smile back at them when they look up. (By the way, I could write a book about my dad fixing situations I got my poor car into from back in the day:) A few minutes later, they're almost finished when I am faced with my next dilemma.... do you pay people for changing your tire?? I mean, am I suppose to 'tip' them?? I decide 'no' as they finish up, hand me my jack and give me the thumbs up. Then one of them stands back and keeps looking at the tire. I can't decide if he is just admiring his hard work or trying to figure out if he did it right. He finally nods at me, So I thank them repeatedly and smile and wave as I get back onto the freeway. The funny thing is, as soon as I get back on my way, my first thought is... I'm SO gonna blog about this experience....... even though I didn't get to use my stun-gun.

I have now witnessed first hand that there are still good people out there that are willing to help a complete stranger and expect absolutely nothing in return. THANK YOU to the three men who went out of their way to help me out!! I also got to see the effects of littering.... "gross, people!! keep your trash to yourself." And I have yet to use my stun-gun people, so stay tuned and I will keep you posted:)

I've been tagged.....

2008-10-01T14:29:00.000-07:00

I joined 'The Secrets in the Sauce' which is a little blogging society. I've already met some cool chicks and am having a good time with it. I met another Misty, who is married and has an adorable little boy (sounds familiar, doesn't it?) She tagged me, so here it goes.......

1. I LOVE Ultimate Fighting (UFC). My husband is an avid UFC fan and a couple of years ago I watched the UFC reality series where 16 men fought to win a contract with the UFC. Now, I'm hooked! I have gotten to know a lot of the fighters and I look forward to some of the fights. The funniest thing is that my favorite fighter to watch has been Tito Ortiz, who is this cocky, kinda obnoxious guy who everyone is surprised to hear I like. He's very entertaining though, and a good fighter. He recently fought his 'last' fight (and, I'm sad to say... lost). I'm gonna miss you, Tito.

2. I HATE wearing shoes! I think I get this from my mom. I only wear shoes when I absolutely have to, and I always take them off AS SOON as I get in the house. My shoe of choice is always the trusty flip-flop. I just feel so free in them, I guess.

3. I get REALLY excited about using power tools!! I know I get this from my dad, who can build and/or fix anything. I've gotten a big kick out of fixing up the house recently (in between being stressed about it, of course) because I've been able to use the drill, a sander and a staple gun. I realize a staple gun isn't exactly a tool, but OOO SO FUN! I really want to learn how to build furniture or something like that, where I can use tools and have a great 'finished product.' I wanna get my hands on a saw, a big one!

4. I'm addicted..... to Starbucks. I know, its an expensive habit! If I had a dollar for every time I have ordered a Grande Nonfat Caramel Macchiato, I'd be a rich woman. I've actually cut down A LOT in the past few months because Drew and Jake got me an espresso maker for Mothers Day. I love that thing! I have been whipping up all kinds of drinks. They're delicious and, oh so cheap;) Barista's everywhere should be jealous!

5.I like to use the !!!!! and the ........ A LOT. Just read on, and you'll see.......... (see?)

6.I am a writer, not a speaker. I have always been told that I am a good speaker and very articulate. But I am not very good at expressing my feelings or making a point by talking out loud. I am much better at expressing thoughts, feelings and opinions in writing. It also doesn't help that I do not like to talk about my feelings anyway. Lets just keep it all in, people... where it belongs;) My husband has learned this the hard way.... I have written him emails and notes before that made him realize what I had been trying to say for weeks. I'm working on this though.

7. I love to run. I ran the 100 meter, 200 meter and sprint relay in high school. My dream back then was to run in the 2004 or 2008 Olympics and, as I'm sure you're aware... I wasn't in Beijing. So that dream has officially died. So I was kinda sad as I watched track and field back in August. But I still love to run, now I'm getting into longer distances. I ran a 5K in May and I am planning to run a 5K or 10K in a couple months. My ultimate goal is to do a half relay next year and the New York Marathon in 2009 or 2010. So thats that.... And now, I tag:

Laura from: http://thestaplesfamilyblog.blogspot.com/

Tanya from: http://bradshawfamily08.blogspot.com/

Danielle from: http://lafamigliaevita.blogspot.com/

Jane from: http://haleofastory.blogspot.com/

Judy from: http://feathersinmynest.blogspot.com/

Lyndi from: http://everyoneknowsitslyndi.blogspot.com/

Nicole from: http://madsennicole.blogspot.com/

Finally......FOR SALE!

2008-09-23T18:22:00.001-07:00

So after months of talking about it and weeks of working on things, our house is FOR SALE! We had planned to get it on the market back in the spring, but with the way the market is right now (especially in our area) we kept putting it off. We finally found a great realtor who really wants to get it sold for us and we're really excited that we are that much closer to doing some traveling. We're praying that God brings the right family along at the right time. Andrew and I picked out the stone, bushes and plants for the flower bed and had a couple of 'handymen' plant everything for us. We were really happy with how it turned out. (I wish we would've done this A LOT sooner:) We also FINALLY cleaned out our garage!! For those of you who have seen the before, you know what I'm talking about! But look, my car can fit now!!!
This is one view of the living room. Thats the clock Andrew got me for my birthday....
In the spring, I painted my dresser black and wanted to find something to replace Andrew's chest of drawers. I found this (below) at the Pottery Barn outlet and it was just what I wanted, but the only color they had was the blue. So, I took on the (crazy) task of painting it to match my dresser... It looks great in our room and Andrew likes all the space for his clothes and stuff. Below is a chair that Drew has had for a LONG time. We needed something to go next to the book shelf, so I recovered the cushions....... I've really gotten into the whole decorating and painting thing. Andrew laughed at me for my before and after pics, but I'm gonna share them anyway:)

Our Busy Weekend......

2008-09-22T10:36:00.000-07:00

Andrew went to Arkansas this past weekend with some friends to watch the Bama/Arkansas football game. Bama stomped the Razorbacks (49-14) so, needless to say, they had a good trip. And so it was just Jake, Timber and me at home for a couple days and we stayed busy the whole time. Friday night Jake and I had a "movie night." Jake LOVES to watch movies and its a really special thing for him when we make popcorn, turn out all the lights, lay back on the couch and give it the official "movie night" title. We watched Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. It was an interesting and cute little movie that kept his attention and he found pretty amusing. Timber sat on the floor in front of us waiting, just waiting, for any tiny piece of popcorn to fall out of our hands.

We were up EARLY Saturday morning for Jakes FIRST FLAG FOOTBALL GAME!! His team is the Titans and they are a great group of little boys. It was a great first game. Jake did a lot of blocking for the running back on our team and played some good 'D'. They don't 'officially' keep score for this age group, BUT our team crossed the goal line more than the other:)

In this pic, Jake is in the middle, facing this way getting ready to block............

GOOOOOOO..........
Titans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He's #4 (His mommy's # in volleyball from back in the day:)
The 'team mom' made this awesome banner for them to run through......
After his game, Jake and I drove to Aubrey to spend the day at Grandma Nancy & Poppa's house. Nay and Hayden came over for a while and we got to see Amber, Nate, Connor and baby Gracie. Heres a pic of Gracie in between one of her many naps........

Here's her on her way to another nap........
And, there she is in the middle of one...... she is SOOO sweet! Jake & Connor had a GREAT day playing together...
Three little monkeys.......... Hayden taught them how to play XBox in the grandkids' room...
They're both so animated:) (where'd they get that from?)
On Sunday afternoon, Jake and I went to the YMCA for his friend, Taidhgin's 5th Birthday party. He got to see all his good friends from his pre-K class at Highpointe. Here's Jake with the birthday boy and another friend....

He got to play with Donovan!!
And Quincy (they are SOOO funny together!)
See what I mean?

Weekend in Austin

2008-09-09T13:22:00.000-07:00

I celebrated my birthday this past weekend and we went down to Austin to spend it with Mom, Dad, Clayton, Sugar and some friends. I actually got to start celebrating a little early. Wednesday night was my last night to work that week..... when I arrived on the unit, I was surprised with a big, BEAUTIFUL bouquet of flowers with a balloon on the front desk. The flowers were SO pretty!! and I was pleasantly surprised to see my name on the card. The inside of the card was too funny not to share..................................

We got to Austin Friday evening and met up that night with my friend Lauren and her husband Matt. It was the first time since they got married last year that all four of us have been able to hang out together. Mexican food is my favorite and Lauren loves it too, so we ate at Guero's near downtown. It was a neat area with shops and stores, so we walked around and then went to Lauren and Matt's apartment. It was so good to hang out with them... the guys talked sports and Lauren and I got to catch up a lot, and we got to see pictures of the progress on their new house. Saturday Mom and I went shopping for most of the day while Andrew, Clayton and Dad watched football and played with Jake. Then Dad cooked hotdogs on the grill and we went to the pool for a while. I wish I had pictures of Jacob at the pool....... he was like a little fish!! At the beginning of the summer, we could barely get him in the pool at all, but he was jumping in and holding his breath and swimming from one person to the next (with some help:) He had a blast and didn't want to go back to the house. Here's some pics.............................

We HAD to get a pic in front of this salon............. :)
We walked to this little place to get some cupcakes...... Watching a movie with my honey....
Jake's latest:

When I picked him up from school Friday he had a hole in his shirt. I said, "Oh, no... what happened to you shirt??" He said, "Don't worry..... my teacher said you can fix it with noodles and bread." I stood there for a minute trying to figure out what he was talking about. I guess he saw my confusion and he said it again.... "Mrs. Renfro said you could fix it easy with some noodles and bread." Finally I got it, and said "OOOHH!! You mean a NEEDLE and THREAD??" He said, "Yeah, thats it."
(His new Hulk PJ's inspired this pose:)

Pop and Bobbi's visit & Jake starts KINDERGARTEN!

2008-08-26T17:59:00.000-07:00

We got to have a great visit with Andrew's parents the past couple weeks. Like last year, they drove out here from Alabama then Ken flew to Japan to visit Sarah, so Judy stayed with us while he was gone. Jake got to spend a lot of time with Judy ("Bobbi"). They made a few trips to the library, read lots of books, did puzzles, and had some learning time to get him ready for school. We had a lot of really great meals while she was here and now that she's gone, the boys expect me to cook:) Judy watched Jake one night while Andrew and I went to a wedding (this has been a year full of weddings for us!) This time it was our friends Dustin and Jill. The wedding was beautiful and we had a really great time. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera in at the reception, but this was before we left the house.........

When Ken got back they stayed a few more days so we could hang out all together. They took Jake to Alley Cats to play for an afternoon and we got to introduce them to our favorite place to eat..... PF Changs. They also got to go with us to meet Jake's kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Renfro.

AND..........Yesterday Jake started Kindergarten!!! He has been talking excitedly about it for weeks now and finally the big day came. He woke me up at 6 AM asking if we could "hurry up and go already." While we were having breakfast and getting ready, he kept saying , "Come on... I dont want to be the last one there!" He was VERY excited that he FINALLY got to wear his new Sketcher shoes (that he just HAD TO HAVE, and he calls them "Skaatchers") and he got to use his new Hulk backpack. When we got there, I walked him into his class and talked with his teacher (who we love, by the way! She's really sweet and friendly...we anticipate a great year). He has his own locker in the classroom and he sits at a little round table with three other kids. His spot was waiting for him with his name tag on it, and he sat down right away. I felt weird just leaving him there, but he was fine. I was painting and working on some things around the house during the day and there were a few times I wanted to just drive down there and peek in. I was trying to picture him eating lunch and lining up for recess and raising his hand to ask a question. I can only imagine HOW MANY questions he had for the teacher (he averages about a million a day around here:). When I picked him up, he had a big smile on his face. He said he had a great day and he really likes his teacher. As usual, though, he refused to give any further information. For someone who talks so much, you would think he'd love to talk about his day and what he did and what they talked about. But it turns out, he just likes ASKING the questions, he doesn't like having to answer any. His second day was just as good, but I had to wake HIM up this time.... and it took a while. Guess all those questions really wore him out..........

Jake's latest..........

When asking his daddy if he could play outside, he said, "Can I, Can I?? Yes or no, friend or foe.... which one are ya?"

He was suppose to be napping, but after just a few mintues he came in the living room. Andrew said "Jake, you're suppose to be asleep." He replied, "I used ALLLLL my powers, and..... Nothing."

Baby Gracie has graced us with her presence

2008-08-26T17:48:00.000-07:00

Nathan and Amber finally had their baby girl on July 30th! Her name is Gracie Marie.... She was right at 7 pounds and very long (I dont remember the inches:). We were in Colorado when she was born but we stopped in Aubrey on our way back home so we could meet here and she is SOOO Cute! Heres some pics of her. I was hoping to get one of her and Connor together, but he was too busy showing Jake his room and his new house:)

FOR SALE BY OWNER

2008-08-09T21:31:00.000-07:00

Well, things have been a little crazy around our house. As most of you know, we are trying to get the house ready to sell, and thats been a big task. My grandpa was so awesome a couple weeks ago.He and my grandma came to stay with us and he was our handy-man, fixing all the things around the house that we don't have a clue about. Like, you know, the hole in the laundry room wall that Timber chewed through when he was a puppy, and all that kind of stuff. So all those things are taken care of but theres still SO MUCH left to do. I am almost finished painting my Pottery Barn armoire thats been in the garage for months now, so as soon as thats moved into our room, I'm gonna work on knocking out all the other little jobs that await me. The frustrating part about all this is - we're working hard to get all this stuff done to the house, knowing that if it does sell (and we're praying HARD it will), we're almost guaranteed to be out $$$ because of the market in our area. But we've got our hearts set on getting out of here, so we're gonna see what happens. I've had a lot of people lately ask me about where we're gonna move when we sell our house, so I wanted to just fill everyone in on our plans.

Andrew and I are both tired of the DFW area and all the traffic and the lack of outdoor activities. The nice thing about our jobs is - he works at home and can do it from anywhere with a computer and phone and I can be a nurse anywhere and have tons of options. So I have decided to try travel-nursing for a while. There are travel agencies that will help you get a contract (usually about 3 months) to work at a hospital pretty much anywhere in the country (depending on the hospitals needs at that time). Our original plan was for me to work at one of the hospitals up in the mountains near Breckenridge, but we recently found out that they don't have any NICU's up there. So now we are looking at our options at other areas near mountains, because its very important that we are near a ski lift.
Jake is super-excited about moving somewhere new for a while, by the way. He has already informed us that he will be a snow-boarder NOT a skier:) We know that Timber would LOVE a change in climate. That poor dog is only supposed to shed twice a year, but because of the heat around here our house is one huge fur-ball. So we are praying that the house sells and doors open for us to travel for a while. We'll keep everyone updated.

Our Colorado Adventure

2008-08-03T15:55:00.000-07:00

Jake and his Nonny

Jake & Ryan in Creede

View from the train on the way to Silverton

I LOVE this pic of him looking out the window!

Paw Paw and Jake getting ready for some fishing

Big Meadow Lake

Well, we just made it back from a great week in Colorado. Andrew really wanted to go, but he had a lot going on with work so he had to stay behind with Timber. So me and Jake made the 14 (or so) hour drive with mom and dad. We went in dad's new truck, which is a very comfortable ride and from the very beginning decided we would see just how many Wal-Mart stores we could stop at between here and there. After about the 4th Wal Mart, we finally gave up on that. The first night, we stopped in Trinidad, Colorado and stayed the night in a new hotel that was rather nice. We woke up the next morning and drove a few more hours to our final destination, South Fork, and our cabin 'the Dry Bean' which I renamed the 'Wet Noodle.' We got to spend a lot of time with Robbie, Janice, Ryan, Uncle LH, Aunt Bill, and LaDena and Jake got to play A LOT with Zach and Brianna (cousins he didn't even know he had:) Jake and Brianna were cut right out of the same mold and it was quite amusing listening to their conversations. For example, while Jake was trying to explain many things to Brianna she finally said, "You just think you know everything." Jake's reply, "Well, listen cause I DO know a lot."

We went to Big Meadows Lake a couple days and fished. I spent a couple hours on the bank one day and caught zip. Five minutes after I gave up and walked back up to our camp, a couple men had moved into my spot and caught a big one. It didn't take us long to realize Jake was more excited about his Batman fishing pole than actually fishing with it. After about half an hour, he decided, "This takes too long." and was off to play with the other kids. One day Dad went with Robbie and a group of guys to fish at a different lake a few hours away, so all the women and kids went to Creede to walk through the town, have lunch and do some shopping. Another day Mom, Dad, Jake and I drove to Durango and rode a train to Silverton. The scenery was beautiful and the train ride was fun (for the first half). We rode the train to Silverton and back, which was three hours each way, so the ride back seemed REALLY long. Our last day there, Dad and I got up in the morning to go rafting with a small group. We were expecting some good rapids with a guide. What we got was a woman with her four year old son and a bus, who dropped us off with a raft. When we asked her where she was going to pick us up, she replied, "Oh yeah, I was gonna show that on the way here. Just stop at the bridge." So we all floated down the river in the HOT sun. It was nice and pretty uneventful... until it suddenly got cold.... and then began to rain... and then the rain felt freezing cold and was hard, because it was really SLEET! So we paddled and shivered and laughed for the last 30-40 minutes until we finally made it to the bridge and the lady finally showed up in her Scooby-Doo van. It was pretty hilarious! We had a great week with mom and dad and the Baughmans; and Jake got to learn and experience a lot. He discovered that he prefers Diet Coke over the original, that you get to have a lot more sodas on vacation than at home, that he is a champ at Aggravation (the board game and the original:), that he is not afraid to pick up a dead animal, that he's not-so-crazy about trains anymore (even Thomas!), and that, while chasing girls with worms may be fun, its not the nicest thing to do.

The ride home went by quicker than the way there (probably because we avoided all Wal Marts and only stopped at one McDonalds). And on the way, we stopped in Aubrey to see Baby Gracie (Nathan and Amber's new baby girl). So I will be posting those pics soon. So now we're back home and suffering heat-shock and I'm enjoying a few more days before I'm back to work and reality really sets in...........

So here we go..........

2008-07-10T04:34:00.000-07:00

Ladies and gentlemen, I have joined the world of blogging! Finally, I know:) Well, I thought this would be a great way to keep in touch with family and friends, especially since we live WAY FAR from everyone and are always super-busy. So, here it is folks....... my first blog. Heres a pic of Jake and Timber (just to get things started:). I will put up some more recent photos SOON!