Thanksgiving!

I just realized that I never posted on Thanksgiving! It was a great one!



We shot skeet (as usual) and I shot a handgun for the very first time!



Got to hang out with my favorite cousin Mikey and his awesome wife Ginger. They are professional food and still life photographers (ever seen a Chili's or La Madeleine menu? That's them!). I might be going up to Dallas to shadow them this summer and learn everything they know about photography. Check out their website!

We finished out the weekend with shopping, hanging out with friends, and celebrating mom's birthday on Saturday.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like.... Thanksgiving...

Is anyone else REALLY excited about Christmas? It's taking everything I have to restrain myself from decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving..

Check out our adorable new ornament from Naeglin's!

We also got these Old World Christmas ornaments as a wedding gift and I love them! I can't wait to hang them on our tree - thanks Uncle Jerry and Diane!

Okay no more Christmas talk until after Turkey Day... Happy Fall everyone!

Thanksgiving, Mom's Birthday, and Wedding Dress shopping Round 1!

Wow - I can't believe it's already Sunday and I've had 5 days off. It feels like this week and weekend flew by! Casey and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my mom and dad and we succeeded in cooking an entire meal without burning anything/burning the house down - yay! I was very proud of myself - one Thanksgiving at our place down - 60 more to go! Haha. Here are some pics of us cooking and the table, turkey, and my favorite part -DESSERT!!



Friday was my mom's 51st birthday and I was so excited when she said she wanted to go wedding dress shopping that day! I had never tried on a wedding dress until then and I was very excited to see what was out there. So Mom, Daddy, and I went to Princess Bridal in Old Town Spring for Round 1 of dress shopping. I was so surprised at how not picky I was - I tried on about 8 dresses and loved 4 of them. I really thought I would be sooooo picky and dissect every dress until I found "the one" but I liked most of them and would have been happy with any of them. Kelli met us there to see the final 4 and talked me into trying on a really different dress and I ended up liking it too. I obviously didn't buy one that day because I want to make sure and include all of my bridesmaids and Casey's mom as well, but at least I have an idea of what's out there now. If you're interested in seeing pics of the four I liked, email me (gmail address) and I will send you pics! I don't want Casey to accidentally stumble upon pictures because he really doesn't want to see me in a wedding dress until the day. :)

After dress shopping, Mom, Dad, Kelli, and I met Casey at Wunsche Bros. for some lunch and we had a great time hanging out and chatting. I had never eaten there and it was pretty good. Here are some pictures from lunch:


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That night we celebrated Mom and Casey's birthdays with gifts and cake - Casey and I got mom this handmade western cross and some other smaller things and Casey got his Xbox 360 from Daddy and I and some black Chuck Taylor's from my mom. Needless to say, after this weekend I need to get on the treadmill BIG TIME!

Today we went to Thomas and Carly Hudson's house for Harper Hudson's 2nd birthday party. It was an Elmo Dance Party theme with a live 6 foot Elmo and I cannot express how hilarious Harper's face was when Elmo walked in to the room. I love kid's birthday parties and we were so glad to be a part of Harper's 2nd! I wish I would've gotten pictures but Harper already had about 50 cameras going off so I didn't want to add to the chaos.

More later- Kelli and Andrew just arrived for Taco night!

Thankful for the Troops

As the holidays approach I am thinking about things that I am thankful for even more than ever. This week I had to comfort a very upset child and ended up making a cool class project out of it. Let me explain - one of my kids, Raven, is dealing with something very difficult right now. She just turned 6 and her mother is serving in Afghanistan right now. Raven is a very well adjusted, very bright child, but occasionally has a meltdown (rightfully so) because she misses her mother so much. On Wednesday Raven was particularly upset because we were talking about Thanksgiving and how we would be spending it. Most of the kids were saying "I'm going to my grandma's house with my mommy and daddy" or something along those lines and when I looked over at Raven she was visibly upset and soon started crying. I can't imagine how hard it is for her knowing that her mom is where she is and not coming home for a very long time. I decided to turn this into a special class project and on Thursday and Friday we made Thank You cards for Raven's mom to send to Afghanistan. This definitely cheered Raven up and Raven's grandmother (who she is currently living with) said that she was so excited that the whole class made cards for her mommy. I am sending the package on Monday, but I thought this one was particularly cute and that you might want to see it:




One of my kids Kendall did this one and yeah it's not perfectly spelled, but this is REALLY good for a kindergartner! Anyway, I hope that all of you are thinking about what you are thankful for this Thanksgiving and being especially thankful for your families. I know I am so thankful and feel so blessed that I have not one but TWO wonderful families this year (mine and Casey's).