My Favorite Things About the New House

Several of you have asked for more house stuff so here are some things about the new house that I really love or that I have been working on and make me happy. I am attaching lots of pictures so maybe the post won't be too boring.

1. BATH TUB- In the master bathroom we have separate shower and tub. The tub is a jacuzzi tub, but my favorite thing is that it is super long. As a tall girl, you have no idea how hard it is to sit and relax in the tub when you are sitting straight up. Here is a picture of my bubble bath before I hopped in last night.

2. Custom Cabinets in the kitchen - This is going to sound stupid to lots of you, but it is a huge asset to me since I am not very good at keeping things organized. The kitchen has some cabinets that are designed for certain items. Here are my two favorite. The top one is for backing sheets and muffin tins. At my old house I had all of mine stuffed in a drawer under my oven and I was constantly having to reorganize it because it was such a mess or pans were getting stuck in it. The bottom cabinets are appliance cabinets. It has an electrical outlet and everything so you don't have to move your appliances to use them or if you need to charge them you can without having them out.

3. Faux painting the Master Bedroom - As I have said before my family (especially my husband) allows me to do NO work on the house because I am too messy or in too much of a hurry. I begged and begged Cody to let me sponge the glaze in the bedroom. He FINALLY let me and I was very careful and didn't make a mess. VERY CAREFUL. I did it all myself and I am so proud of it (even though it is not perfect) Here is my self portrait when I was done!

4. Embedded flower pots - They left several buried flower pots that make the view from our eating area really pretty. Carley and I bought and planted flowers yesterday and it was so fun. Even though they are just cheap flowers from Home Depot, they are still beautiful.

5. Clearance flowers from Walmart - My good friend Jill always has fresh flowers in her home. She just lives 2 blocks away and every time I go over there I always say, "I should do this". Jill gave me a beautiful pot full of soil and gardening tools as a housewarming present and she told me it was time to "put up or shut up". She said the trick is to buy the clearance flowers at Walmart every time you go to the store. Here are some pretty white flowers that I got for $2.15 at Walmart on Monday and they are STILL pretty on the kitchen table. I also bought some flowers for the pot and I smile and think of her every time I drive up and see them.

6. Greenery and Built In Shelves - The house has 2 living areas both with lots of built in shelves. I have been trying to make them look good, but really not doing a good job at all. My mom came to the rescue this week and helped me decorate with greenery around a lot of the wood in the house. It looks so much better! I love the built in shelves, but since I don't have a decorating bone in my body, mom has really been helpful. You can see the greenery we added to the top of the shelves in the TV room and then two of my favorite shelves in the living room.

7. The MIRROR - Alyssa and Clint gave me a mirror several years ago. I love it. It is HUGE and adds a lot of light and space to rooms. It pays to have a craft-savvy brother-in-law with the Pier One hook ups! Cody and I finally hung the beast of a mirror last week and I love it! It really brightened up the brick in the living room. Plus it always makes me think of Alyssa and Clint when I see it!


If you are still reading, thanks for indulging me in this post. I know it was long. We have been working hard on it, and there is still a lot of work to do. Come visit us and see for your self!

Sea World

We had a great time in San Antonio and Sea World with my family. We drove down with my parents. Having Papa and Nana in the car made the 7 hour drive so much more fun. We got in Thursday night and checked in at our hotel. Then we went to the area where my dad grew up and went to the cemetery where both of his parents are buried. After that we went to my dad's favorite restaurant and met my sister and her family there. I can not tell you how great it was to all be together. I love my parents, sister, brother-in-law, and precious nieces so much. Being with them brings pure joy to my heart. I am so thankful that Cody and Carley feel the same way. Cody and I always enjoy getting out of town together and we really thought this trip with Carley was so special. She is just at such a great age.

Friday we got up and headed to Sea World. Sea World was great! It could not have gone smoother. The hardest part was the weather. The high was 83 and it rained off and on each day. It was SO nice for it not to be hot with all the kids there. We stayed until 6 pm the first night and until 4 the next day. There is no way the kids (or adults) would have been able to 6 and 8 hour days in the heat. Also the crowds were smaller because of the weather. We were able to get into all of the roller coasters really quickly. But, it would have been nice to be wet from the water in the park and not the down pours of rain and not to have our kids lips turn blue in the water.

Anyway, we had such a great time. The kids loved the animals, shows, and water. Everyone loved Shamu. My niece Lauren could not get enough of the penguins and Carley's favorite animals were the horses. That's right, we drove all the way from west Texas to see the Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales! She loved them. Camryn was just a trooper that laughed at all of the animals. She was just glad to be with her family.

The girls had matching outfits for each day which was really cute. Sadly, they would not all look at the camera for any picture the entire trip so I don't have any great picts of them. My parents were great and were totally rockstars to their granddaughters. Every time Papa or Nana came in the room three little girls ran to them screaming their names. It was precious.

Happy Father's Day

My Two Favorite Men!

We had a fun Father's Day. We have started the tradition of eating at the "good restraunt" on Saturday Night and then eating at a fun, fast restraunt on Sunday. I highly recommend this so Sunday lunch is not eternal. So Saturday we had a yummy dinner with Papa and Nana at the Olive Garden then Sunday we went to a Chinese Buffet after church. They also had Critterfest at the Science Spectrum so Cody and I took Carley after lunch. We had a great weekend.

I am so very thankful for my dad and for Cody as a father. Carley and I are very lucky to have such sweet, gentle, caring fathers and I pray that one day Carley marries someone who is as wonderful of a father to her children as Cody is to our daughter.

Dinner with Papa and Nana

"My Dad is the Man" t-shirt

Carley talking to a Llama ( I think)


This is my favorite. We took pictures before church this morning. I always think Cody and Carley are twins, but I love that both of their eyes are closed in this picture. They really are so much the same!

Happy 30th Birthday, April

We had a fun party today for April who is turning the BIG 3-0!!! She was so surprised by our sneaky plans for a fun girl afternoon.

Here are a few pictures.
Me and my 2 beautiful pregnant friends, April and Kristin

The girls

April Julie, and Denise

We made April a scrapbook of some special memories that her friends sent in. It ended up being really cute!

Happy 30th, Ape. We love you!

Summer is HERE!

I finished work on Friday and for the past few days, I have been having a blast! At this moment, all the laundry in the house is clean, folded, AND put away. I have cooked lots of meals and literally had company for breakfast, lunch, or dinner every day. I have some dear friends out there that I hadn't seen in a bit or I wanted to return the favor of them cooking for me. It has been so much fun. I have loved playing house in my new house.

But the most fun of all has been playing with Carley. We have had a blast being together. She is just so sweet. Those of you who know me well know that my FAVORITE summer time activity is the pool. Week before last we played in Carley's flower sprinkler and then this week we have hit the pool often. It has been so much fun!

Here are some picture of my daughter in her white trash diaper, t-shirt, and water shoes in the backyard and then some in her fabulous Elmo swimsuit.

The Phoenix Has Risen

Stefano Dimera is back on Days of Our Lives and so am I. I started watching it this week and I am hooked again. There is not much on TV these days so it is good to watch it.

I REALLY like the show Traveler on ABC. It is SO good. It is like the Fugative crossed with Law and Order. I really like watching it all unfold.

I watched "America's Got Talent" last night and I plan on watching Last Comic Standing.

What will you watch this summer?

What is your weakness?

Cody and I went to the drive in this weekend to see Pirates of the Caribbean. It was good. I had heard mixed reviews. but we liked it. There is alot of bad weather in the movie. It was extra creepy because it was thundering and lightening outside at the drive in while we were watching. It really added to the special effects. For those of you who have seen it, I wonder what you thought of it. I want to see Knocked Up soon.

Anyway, Cody and I have a drive in night tradition. We always stop at Sonic on the way and get 99 cent Route 44 drinks and then we go to Walmart and buy candy. Now, our drive in has really great prices on food and drink so we used to always get our stuff there. Then I found the candy at Walmart for 1/4 of the price of the theaters and 1/2 the price of the drive in and couldn't resist saving a little money. Usually Cody gets chocolate covered peanuts and I get Whoppers. This last time we both got Milk Duds. DUDE, I forgot how good Milk Duds are to eat! Anyway, I know I should not blog about food, but I had to ask you, blogland, what do you eat at the movies?