Hurricane Harbor!

Josh and I totally got blessed this weekend and were treated to a Saturday at Hurricane Harbor! We had so much fun. My Godfather (yes I have one of those) Greg was in town taking his youth group to summer camp and we met up to catch some sun. The lines were so long that we only got to ride a couple of slides, but man those nachos were amazing!! :o) As a kid I remember things like Hurricane Harbor being way more fun, but the lines were so long and the slides are so short that the payoff isn't quite worth it. But it was still really fun and waiting in the lines provided some much needed catch up time with Greg. It was good to get some sun and hang out with my family.

Hairspray!!

Joshua surprised me with tickets to go see Hairspray! What a wonderful guy I've got! :o) He picked me up at work and we went to see the show at Fair Park in Dallas. If you look close you can see, I wore my "I love Link" button on my dress. Hairspray is such a fun show! They dance like 75% of the time (I always wonder how Tracy stays fat with all that dancing. . .she must eat a ton to maintain that weight). Anyway, I had seen it once already (back in my CFNI days) but Josh had only seen the movie. He liked it a lot and on the way home we were singing various songs and talking about the show and I remembered (as if I had ever forgotten) why I absolutely love live theater. It's a whole experience that lasts far after the lights have come up and the applause have died down. At one point in the show the actor playing Edna totally lost it in the middle of the duet with "her" and "her" husband. "She" totally couldn't recover and the orchestra had to hold the same note for like a whole minute for "her" to regain "her" composure. Part of me was like - That is so unprofessional - and the other part said - That is exactly why I love live theater!! Dr. Natour went to see the show on Sunday and I know that she didn't see the same show that I did and there is just something about that that makes it special.

The River Pics

After Applebees we went to where the bridal party took their pictures at this beautiful river with a covered bridge. No one had wanted to go take them at first but after we got there and did some rock climbing to get out to the river it ended up being so fun and the pictures turned out great! My camera was a little dark, but Jean is supposed to be sending me some better ones from her camera. She was so happy about the pictures turning out good, her eyes lit up with excitement every flash! :o)

Applebee's Adventure

So after the wedding festivities are all over we had one night of real vacation. We all decided that we would go out to eat together so we all pile in the cars and get ready for the hour trek to the nearest restaurant. After cafeteria food in the middle of nowhere for three days, Applebees never tasted so good!! I love to hear myself laugh again and remember that I'm funny and that I'm loved. It's good to be with friends.

I love him!

There was a swingset right outside of where we were staying in the guest house. Josh and I went for a walk and then swung out on the swings and talked. It was the perfect day outside. A much needed break from the sweltering heat of Texas summer. I love him!

Mr & Mrs Jeremey and Rebecca Miller

Well, here they are, the happy couple. They ended up with really a beautiful ceremony. It was outside surrounded by the woods of upstate New York on a beautiful day. Lovely. There's my man in his cool new shoes lookin' fly with all those boys! :0) The pictures of me and Josh all ended up on another camera so when I get those I'll have to post them because after weeks of diet and exercise I totally fit in my dress!!

Rehearsal Dinner

Josh and I recently flew up to upstate New York for Josh's brother's wedding. It was such a great trip. Jacob and his new girlfriend came up for the wedding and it was so fun to see Jacob and a pleasure to meet his girlfriend, Jessica. We all had so much fun the whole trip and I think Jacob is still recovering from the beating that he got at Nerts!! :0)
This is the rehearsal dinner. It was beautiful. Jean did such a good job picking the location. Pinecrest is so secluded the nearest Wal*Mart is an hour away (and that's not even a super!) so we had to drive a ways to get there, but it was totally worth it. I love this pic of me and Jeff (my Father-in-law). Then there's me and Jean and the Bride to be, Bekah. She is such a sweetheart.

Friday the 13th

Here we are at Six Flags over Texas, finally utilizing our season passes that we got recently. Yes, Josh and I seemingly look happy in this picture. . .don't be fooled. He was sick to his stomach from riding roller coasters at Six Flags and I have been crying for an hour about having a wreck on the way home from work. Shortly after this my car broke down on the way home and we had to get it towed to Auto Zone where the next morning we fixed the problem ourselves. Talk about a horrible Friday the 13th!! I have never believed in that kind of thing, but that day was seriously bad. It made me think though about how perfect Josh is for me because I was upset and mad and muttering under my breath and he was happy go lucky trying to cheer me up. I love him.

I'm the Hulk

"You're not going to like me when I'm angry!" I found these hideous Incredible Hulk hands at Wal*Mart with my brother the other night. When you hit someone with them they growl. :o) I thought they were just ridiculous enough to be totally fun so I put them on and beat my brother up as much as a could with the cardboard holder still attached to the hands. He defended himself and retaliated (minus the extra padding). He had a double header with the new All Stars team the Burleson Bashers. However, they don't seem to be bashing much of anything, except their heads against the wall because the losing streak is continuing. . .oh well. . .Nikko is having fun and that's the important thing.

The Birthday Girl!!

Kiera is officially two!! It's weird how Josh and I have become a part of this family from Virginia to Texas, but I'm so glad that we have!! I had to work on Saturday so Josh and I were late to the party. Josh had to get a present on his way over and I'm so proud of him. We were on the phone and he was having a hard time finding anything. I finally said that I wasn't really helping him sitting on the phone while he wandered around Wal*Mart, so I hung up fully expecting him to show up late with a B- present unwrapped. Instead he totally surprised me (and Kiera) with an A++ present wrapped and everything!! I was so proud! He got her that adorable Mickey stuffed animal from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cartoon. It was such a thoughtful gift cause the last time we were over there we all watched the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse together before Kiera went to bed (I know with 4 adults to 1 child you would think the adults would win on what to watch, but that is not the case. . .well that's not really a good example because after she went to bed we totally watched Ice Age 2). Anyway, that to say Happy Birthday Kiera and Kudos to Josh!!

Hope's Dance Recital

This weekend was Hope's dance recital. I'm all about the arts (anyone who has met me for more than 15 minutes knows that) but this recital was seriously like a marathon event. I got there at 2:00, intermission wasn't till 4:00 and Hope hadn't even danced yet. There were so many kids and so many dances. I couldn't believe the costuming!! These kids (or should I say parents) were serious! Anyway, Hope was super cute! She did ballet and tap. There was also a number to the song "Beauty and the Beast" and all the girls had Belle dresses on!! That was clearly my favorite. :o) I wonder where I can get one in my size!?!

Swimming!!

I love swimming!! It is one of my favorite activities of all time. Josh grew up with a pool in his backyard and a beach 20 minutes away. Water isn't a treat for him. But as for me, I didn't have a pool. I had a best friend with a pool, a boyfriend with a pool, and grandparents with a pool. However, when you're fighting with your friend, or get dumped, or your grandparents move, then no more pool. Sad day! So swimming is a total treat for me. It's the whole experience of swimming for me. The floating around, splashing and playing, the laughter of kids nearby, reading a book by the pool as you sunbathe, I love it all. Every once in a while I can twist Josh's arm enough that he will go with me. This day we went with Anne, Pat and Kiera. How fun!! Kiera loves the water and Josh even got in and swam with me a little bit!! :o) Hopefully, I can talk him into swimming again soon!

Kiera's Cuteness

Oh my goodness!! Is this not the cutest kid!?! She is so adorable and fun. We continually raid her house and mooch her parents food and electronics. :o) Anne and Pat as a team are like the best cooks ever! We keep being drawn over there by the wonderful aromas coming from their apartment. Josh is hooked on Blue-Ray now because of our weekend adventures. I hate to put this in here right now because this weekend is Kiera's 2nd birthday party and I will have more pics to put up then, but I couldn't resist cause these pictures are just too cute!

My Favorite Girls!

These are some of my favorite girls! Super fun and talented with pure hearts for the Lord. I'm so glad that I got to be a part of their family! We still totally need to have girls night! Our fav things: Shopping, Taco Night, Talking, HSM :0) , being Drama Queens, and laughing together! :-) Thanks for growing into such amazing young women!!

DDR

We broke out the good old Dance Dance Revolution!! Come on Playstation! We rotated playing the vs round. It was super fun and we were all huffing and puffing by the end. I think it's been years since I actually played that game, but heck I paid for two mats so we might as well break it out every now and again. Nicholas is hooked now, he's been playing it all the time now. I told my Mom that it had a workout setting! :o) Maybe she can dance dance some more pounds away!!

Our Luxurious WT Mother's Day!

So for Mother's Day I got this great idea to take my Mom to a spa that has "Ladies Night" every other Friday! It's cheap and I thought it would be a fun experience for us. So "Ladies Night" roll around and we met at Applebees for dinner (Yumm!) and then we went to Ambiance Relaxation. (just the name makes me want to take a deep breath) :-) It was amazing!!

There were a bunch of different machines that you could use to massage different parts of you back or legs. I got on one that was a water pulsater. You lay on it and it shoots warm water at your back in rotating patterns. It was relaxing and jarring at the same time. While I was laying in it I started laughing because I was like, "I'm willingly volunteering for this but I'm pretty sure that if it was a forced activity it could also be used as torture for POW's". :-)

So we left there and we were going to see a movie, but the times didn't work out so we ended up running various errands. So we go to Wal*Mart and when we were walking through my Mom was like, do you want to get our toes painted? What girl would ever say no to that!?! So we go in and there are of course all these Asian women who are speaking to each other in tae kwon do ;O) while doing our nails. So we are sitting under the blue light drying our nails (and yes that is Kleenex between our toes) and was like, "Mom we are so WT right now." She didn't understand why it was totally white trash to be getting pedicures at Wal*Mart, but hey we did go to the spa and that counts for something right!?! It was super fun to hang out with my Mom!! She's my hero!

My "Brave" Little Brother

Ahh the Braves. The poor little Braves. This is the first year that my brother has been on a team where the wins have been scarce. He has always been on a team that came in Second or Third. However, this year we have been lucky to get a couple of wins. The team had a few excellent players (my brother being one of them) but they just weren't enough to carry the whole team. You know that awkward kid that runs funny and always misses those ground balls in the outfield. . .yeah. . .we totally had like three of those kids. Bummer. . .but the bright side is that my brother was hand selected by the coach to try out for All Stars. That was so exciting!! He did really well at tryouts and he made one of the All Star teams, so now he plays baseball like all summer! He was so excited! I'm super proud of him! Way to go Nikko!

Here's the gang all decked out in our Brave's attire (which is totally one of my favorite shirts now) for the last game. The bottom pic is my bro nailing a foul ball. He hit a good one after that and I think made it all the way around for a run. We won our last game which kinda made the whole season worth it. You should have heard the cheering from the Brave's section. . .you would think we never win or something. . . :-) Those moms (umm. . .and sisters) were going crazy! :-)

Yay for Little League!!