The two weeks I have been waiting for...

ARE FINALLY HERE!!!!!  Yippe!!!  I have so looked forward to having some time off.  :)  I LOVE my job, but honestly, it is so nice to be able to chill out at home and do whatever I want.  And I get to do that for 2 weeks.  Life is pretty grand right now. 

My sis and her family made it to my house on Friday and stayed until Sunday.  We are the halfway point between her house in Florida and Mom & Dad's house in Oklahoma.  It was nice to see them.  We get to see them again next weekend for Christmas.  Then, they are staying at our house for a couple days before she ventures back home. 

Mike surprised me with my Christmas present.  He knew exactly what he wanted to get me, but was having trouble deciding "which one", so off to Best Buy we went last night.  He took me in and stopped in front of the cameras and told me to pick one.  I was completely stunned!  I have wanted a badass camera for quite some time.  And, apparently, now was the time to get it.  After lots of looking and talking to the sales guy, I chose the Canon D60.  It is still in the box, but let me tell you, look out later!  I am all over it and you never know when your gonna be the subject of my pictures!  :)

Well, I guess I need to post some pics. So, here goes... a few of my favorites:

Me and my girls - one of my favorite pics of us together  :)

Favorite pic of me and Mike - <3 him

My very best friends - Me, Kelli, Mary, & Jeannie  - aka "The Swim Cliche"

It's a Gulfarium...Not an aquarium...

Thought I'd start this post with pretty cool pic...At least I think it's cool.  I had to leave my "mark" and represent.  It didn't last long though...The time came in soon after I took the picture.  I tried at least...

The Florida vaca started out pretty rainy.  We decided not to let it get us down and spent one of the rainy days at the Florida Gulfarium.  Before I get into this or post pics I have to tell you that you CANNOT  call it an aquarium down there.  If you do, you WILL be corrected.  I really don't know what the difference is, but apparently there is a difference.  And we know better than to screw the name up again...  :)

This place was pretty neat.  They had a lot of different tanks and shows.  The seating for them was pretty good too.  You were never too far back so you could see and take pictures.  The girls LOVED seeing the dolphins. 

Allison decided on that day that she might want to be a dolphin trainer and decided to ask the trainer what she would have to do to become a trainer herself.  Apparently you need a degree in sociology so you can learn to train the dolphins using behavior training.  Never thought of that before, but it makes sense.  She also found out that she'd have to do a lot of internships, even some that don't pay.  I don't know that she completely understood that she wouldn't get money for it.  I don't think her 11 year old brain quite comprehends that yet...

This is from the multi species show.  This sea lion was pretty cool!  In the second picture, there was also a dolphin that jumped up and touched a buoy in the air.  I wish I had gotten a picture of the dolphin too!

This is after the sea lion show.  These 3 sea lions were too funny.  They danced, clapped, and "asked" for applause every chance they got.  I guess they wore themselves out!

These sharks almost looked like they were fake.  They really didn't move much.  Every now and then you'd see one of them shift just slightly.  The picture doesn't really show how big they were.  They weren't huge, but they definitely weren't small either.  I'd be scared to death to be in there with them!

Overall, the Gulfarium was a lot of fun.  Even for the grown-ups.  :)  I'd definitely go there again!  :)

Vacation...becoming Beach Bums

The past month has been busy! June ended with a round of VBS for the girls. They attended VBS at Mobberly Baptist Church and absolutely loved it. Dennis Lee, a ventriloquist, opened and ended each night and was really quite entertaining. I even giggled at some of his jokes. :) Truly a guy with gifts. (Click on his name to check out his website.) The girls seemed to really listen to the lessons at church and talked nonstop about how fun it was for them. Mobberly is a huge church that offers tons of stuff for the kiddos. I was very impressed!

A couple days after VBS ended, we drove 10 1/2 hours to Fort Walton Beach, Florida to visit my sister and her family. We left out on Sat., July 3rd and stayed until Friday the 9th. We spent the 4th at the beach. It was a lot of fun! It was also my sister's birthday. (She always thought the fireworks were for her...Ha!)

The girls had a blast at the beach. I think it was one of the things they looked forward to the most. The last time they were at the beach was in 2001. I think Allison was 2 1/2 and Whit was about 7 months old. I can't believe how long it had been...

The boat in the background of this picture is a dolphin cruise boat. Basically, you ride around on the boat and watch the dophins that swim around the boat. We went on one in 2001. It was pretty cool. I was amazed at the number of dolphins that swam around the boat. We didn't have time to go on it this trip, but we'll definitely try next trip. :)

These are a couple of my favorite pictures of the girls on the beach.

Allison and Whitney spent a lot of time looking for shells - both broken and unbroken shells. I can't tell you how many we brought home...it was a lot, mostly broken ones though. They also tried to catch small crabs and fish that were coming up with the tide. Watching them hop like deer and dive on what they were trying to catch was quite entertaining to say the least. They never did catch any...

Mike finally got a little R&R. He needed it desperately. He has been swamped at work and needed some time away. He hasn't had a real vacation in at least 3 years. It was a much needed brain break for him. It was good to see him relax a bit. And, quite frankly, it was fun to hang out with him. He's an okay kind of guy. I think I'll keep him. ;)

Got a cute pic of me and Ally on the beach. She is growing up and maturing pretty quickly. It was fun to watch her still be a kid. Especially when she hunted for see shells. Each new shell proved to be an amazing find to her. :)

One of the last pics we took that day. The day was a bit overcast and cloudy so when I saw the light shining through the clouds as the sun set, I had to get this picture. I absolutely love how beautiful the sky looked that night. Perfect ending to a great day.

Enough pictures for tonight. I'll post more manana!

Hugs!

B~

Monday...Monday...

It's finally Monday. I never thought I'd be glad to see a Monday, but today I am glad! We had a very busy weekend.

Allison swam in her first swim meet with her new swim team, Champion Aquatic Team - CAT. She had not been in a meet since February 2009, so it had been nearly a year and a half since she last competed. And, this competition was in a long course pool instead of a short course pool. That basically means it was 50 meters from end to end instead of 25 meters. She has always practiced and competed in a 25 meter pool so she was a bit nervous about being in a longer pool. Once she realized that she would not have to do as many flip turns she was pretty excited.

This is what a long course pool looks like. The length can be pretty daunting!

The meet she competed in was in Shreveport. It started on Friday and ended on Sunday. She competed on Saturday and Sunday. We had to drive to Shreveport and have Ally ready to get in the pool by 7:25 in the morning. That meant we had to get up around 4:30 and leave by 5:45ish. BOTH DAYS!!! It was so hard to get up! Totally worth it though. :)

On Saturday, Allison competed in the 100 backstroke, 100 freestyle, and the 50 butterfly. She said her goal was "to not be last" and I have to say she was pretty successful! haha Her first event was the 100 back. She just recently got that stroke and turn down so she was nervous, but after she realized she wasn't the last person in her heat she got rid of her butterflies. Next, she swam the 1oo free. She did really well again and finished 5th in her heat. The last event she competed in was the one that made me most nervous - 50 fly. This is such a hard stroke and so tiring! Even though it was just a 50, it made me nervous. She totally rocked that one though. As hard as that stroke is, she gave it her all and finshed 5th again. I was so proud of her!

When Sunday rolled around, she competed in the 50 free and the 50 back. In the 50 free she was 4th in her heat and she was 2nd in her 50 back heat. I was so shocked and surprised by her 50 back! You would not believe the change in her backstroke from Saturday to Sunday. On Saturday, she had slower arms and her kick wasn't quite as strong. Then, on Sunday, Coach Clark told her to have fast arms and kick! So, she did! She was in 3rd and as she approached the wall, she just beat out the girl ahead of her to get 2nd in her heat. Wow! So proud of her and she couldn't believe that she did that. She beamed from ear to ear.

After her meet on Sunday, we headed back to Longview. Mike's grandma turned 85 on Friday and she had a birthday party on Sunday complete with BBQ and cake. The food was yummy and when we got home, we all crashed out on the couch. It felt goooooood to be home!

Today will be a kinda lazy day. I don't plan on going anywhere really and I want to clean up the house. Got started on it last week and I want to get it finished today or tomorrow. Wish me luck on that....

Hope everybody has a good Monday!

Hugs!

B-

TGIF!

This has been my second week of summer vacation. It has flown by so fast! And, I feel like I haven't accomplished all the things I thought I would have by now. Oh, well... At least my laundry is getting caught up. I can hardly believe that we have so much laundry all the time, but then I look at the many different outfits Whit wears each day and I realize where it all comes from... Oh, and when she cleaned up her room yesterday, she had about 6 towels in her room. I hadn't seen them in there before then so I am wondering where she was hiding them. Probably under her bed. ***Mental note - look for dirty towels and clothes under Whit's bed more often.***

Tomorrow is a big day for Allison. It is her first swim meet with her swim team here in Longview. She has been to meets with her old team in Bryan, but this is her first meet with her Longview team. They are competing in a long course pool. It is twice as long as the pool she practices in. She is really excited and nervous. I can't wait to watch her swim. She has been working really hard at practice and has been very good about eating healthy lately. I am very proud of her. :) I'll update everyone on Ally's swim meet this weekend.

Hope everyone has a good weekend! Enjoy this nice weather!

B-

Good morning!

Good morning world! Today is my 2nd official day of summer break. (I'm not counting the long weekend. We would have had that built into any school schedule.) It is beautiful outside today too. I feel like opening all the windows in the house and letting the sun shine in!

Today is my father-in-laws birthday. Happy birthday Johnny! Hope its a great day!

For the past year and a half I have completely put my scrapping on the back burner. Not because I didn't like it longer. I still love it. More like I just needed to step back and take a break. Over the past few days, I have been looking online to get inspiration. There is SO MUCH out there! Wow! I am motivated! One thing I found while looking on the internet is that there are several sites that I always visited that are no longer there. Kinda surprised to see that so many had disappeared. So, I am on the hunt for some new places to find inspiration. I am feeling REALLY creative lately. Can't wait to get my scrap room in order so I can get busy!

The girls are going to be surprised today. They have wanted a cat for quite some time. Like over a year. We kept putting it off, but after meeting the little kitty that wondered up to Mike's uncle's house over the weekend, I think we all fell for the little thing. Especially Allison. She is head over heels for this kitty. It is so tame and all it wants to do is love on whoever will give it attention. It is not super small, but it isn't full grown yet either. I am going to go get it today and surprise the girls. We will have to get the furbabies used to it, but from what I read online, it can be done. I really think that Deuce will lose interest in it after a while. Dixie, on the other hand, will be excited to have a friend to play with....or just to pester. Either way, this cat has been around the uncle's dogs and is pretty good about standing its ground. I think it will do the same here. We are going to try it out and see how it goes. I hope it goes well, so cross your fingers for us!

Time to get my day going and the windows opened up to let the sun shine in! Have a great hump day everyone! Love loves!

Finally summer...

It is finally summer here in East Texas! Woo! Hoo! I absolutely love summertime. I feel so free this time of year. No school, no kids (other than my own) needing something from me, time to get things accomplished, and a little time for me. I have LOTS of plans for this summer. I hope that I have time to accomplish them. :)

Just a few things I want to do:

*Finish the kitchen
*Paint the girls' bathroom
*Decorate the girls' bedrooms -- I have tons of ideas for their rooms. :)
*Decorate and organize my scrap room
*READ, READ, READ!
*Float in my pool

Mike and I are also going to start landscaping around the pool. I have some sago palms and some ponytail palms to get us started. It will be a big job and will probably be an ongoing project for a while, but I feel positive it will be completely worth it. We already updated our pool area with a new pool liner earlier this month. It is amazing how different - and new - our pool looks now. I love it. :)

The girls are glad school is out now too. It is hard for me to believe they are going to be in 4th and 6th grade next year. They are growing up so fast. Both of them did exceptionally well on their TAKS tests. Allison was commended on her math test and missed being commended on her science test by one question. Whit took her first ever TAKS tests this year. She made an 85 on her math test and missed having a perfect score on her reading test by one question. We are so proud of them both!

Hope everybody has had a great Memorial Day weekend. Happy summer everyone!
Loves!