Early birthday present!

I got an early birthday present the other day!  Debs had my name in one of my stitching groups.  She is so *on the ball* and got it to me EARLY!!  We chatted back and forth a little bit and she was able to pick out my favorite things.  Pink, purple, hearts and breast cancer awareness!!  Just look!!

 

       

 

                                      

 

I just LOVE all of it!  Aren't those scissors the cutest!!  Her son made the beaded thread counter - how sweet is that??  Thanks again Debs!!  You totally spoiled me! 

 

The boys were out of school on Friday for a teacher in-service.  I had big plans of spending the day making candy and getting my hair cut and high lighted.  Unfortunately, my plans changed.  My great uncle died and the visitation and graveside services were Friday afternoon.  He was a very sweet man!!  He and my paternal grandmother were brother and sister.  I have very fond memories of Uncle Ray and Aunt Evelyn. 

Here's picture of Jonah and Uncle Ray.  Last year, Jonah's class made cards for the veterans at the VA home.  They passed out the cards and sang several patriotic songs.  Jonah got to give his to Uncle Ray.  One of the local TV stations were there filming and Jonah was on TV, along with his class. 

                                             

 

We did get some Christmas candy made before I had to go the the funeral home.  We made fudge and dipped pretzels.  Jonah and I made a gingerbread house. He had a lot of fun with it.  I was so impressed - he didn't want it to look just like the box picture. 

I didn't take a picture of the finished house!  I'll do that and share it later.  I'm planning on taking some pictures of some of my favorite Christmas things to show y'all!  Hopefully I'll get to that before Christmas is over!! 

All of my pictures lately have been of Jonah.  I do have 2 other boys!!  These pictures are of Josh.  This is what he was doing while Jo was decorating the house...

 

Jake was hiding from my camera that day.  But here's a picture of him from Thanksgiving in Little Rock.

                                  

Don't you love that old truck?? 

Christmas Meme

 

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate with marshmallows!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Sits them under the tree, though the thought of wrapping them has crossed Santa's mind since the boys LOVE to get up at 4AM....

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White lights on our big tree.  Usually red lights on our Coke tree (couldn't find them this year ugh!!)   Red lights on the garland on the front door.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No, I never have.

5. When do you put your decorations up? The Friday after Thanksgiving

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Oyster dressing, my paternal grandmother made the best.  I miss her!

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child. On Christmas Eve, we always went to my paternal grandmothers.  I remember spending the late afternoon at her house just bouncing off the walls waiting for my parents to get off of work.  It took forever!!  She'd try to keep us busy but I know we drove her crazy!  Then when they finally got to her house, we had to EAT first before opening presents!  Didn't they know what was important?? 

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I was in 2nd grade and a girl that lived behind us told me.  I was truly heartbroken! 

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?  Now that my grandmother is not here with us, we go to my dad's.  We open presents there.  It's usually so late when we get back to our house, the boys go straight to bed.  We open our presents Christmas morning.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?  Our tree is full of memories!  Nothing matches and there is no rhyme or reason.  I'm just grateful now that the boys are taller and there are ornaments at the top of the tree and not just at the bottom!  We have Hallmark ornaments that Nannie started for the boys. Now my Aunt Pat does them.  I have a couple for my childhood.  And of course there's some the boys have made.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it!  Wish we would have some snow!

12. Can you ice skate? No.

13, Do you remember your favorite gift? When I was little, it was a lifesize ballerina doll that had a crown.  When you turned the crown, she would twirl!  As a grownup, probably my pink iPod!  But then there's my journey necklace, my slide bracelet.....

14. What is the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Remembering WHY we celebrate and making memories for the boys!

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?  all of them......lol  Cherry cream cheese pie, chocolate pie, oreo pie...

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Going to my dad's on Christmas Eve, making fudge

17. What tops your tree? A bow this year, the angel that we've put on our tree for 21 years didn't survive.  Haven't found just the right thing to replace her.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? is it bad to say both??!!!

19. What is your favorite Christmas song? Mary did you know?

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? Yummy if it's a sweet peppermint

21. What do you want for Christmas? nothing really this year.  just to have fun with our families

22. Do you attend an annual Christmas party? We went to one with some of Brad's co-workers, I think I was the only spouse there.  Not much fun!

23. Do you dress up on Christmas or wear PJ’s? We don't dress up.  Getting teenagers to wear more than blue jeans is NOT worth the fight in my book!  We might stay in our PJ's this year since we won't be going anywhere on Christmas day this year!  Maybe I should go get us all new ones!!!!

24. Do you own a Santa hat? No, but maybe I should!

25. Who do you normally spend Christmas with? Family

Happy Thanksgiving!

                                                  

 

Just wanted to wish everyone Happy Thanksgiving!!  We're going to my Mom's for lunch.  I called her the other night to find out what she wanted me to bring and she said NOTHING!!  So I made a pumpkin roll and red velvet cake balls.  Have you seen these cake balls??  I found them here: Bakerella  This is my new favorite site!!  I want to try everything she has put on her site. 

I rolled out the cake balls last night and put them in the fridge overnight.  I dipped them this morning and they are just perfect!  I never really thought they would look good AND taste good!!  It will be lots of fun to experiment with different flavors!! 

Tomorrow morning we're going to Little Rock to watch the LSU Tigers and Arkansas Razorback with Brad's family.  I hope it's not going to rain!!

Hope y'all have a great day!!

We have a winner!!

 

 

 

Ashley!!!  I'll bring your prize to church Sunday!!  I'm in the bed babies during Sunday School then we go to late church.  I'll look for you in the hallway!

Thank you all for entering my little giveaway!!  It was fun to meet some new blog friends!!  I promise to do it again soon!

And thank you Jonah for being my helper!!

One year ago....

I was inspired by my bff Laura to start a blog!  I'm not the writer she is but I thought it would be fun to share pictures of my stitching and beading.  It's ended up being about my boys!!  Could it be because I'm always doing things with them??  What fun! 

 

Anyway to celebrate, I thought I'd do a little giveaway!  I have this little crystal tennis bracelet that I love to make.  I wore it to church one Sunday and Laura thought my sweet hubbie had bought me a big diamond bracelet!!  HA!! 

 

 

                                             

 

So, if you'd like to have a *fake* tennis bracelet, leave me a comment!!  The drawing will be Friday.  I know I don't have but maybe 3 people that read my blog, so your chances are really good!!

Homecoming pictures

We survived our first homecoming!  YEA!  It was a very nice night really.  Jake's friends came to take pictures around 5.  We barely caught the light.  I think they turned out pretty good! 

Then we went to her house to eat supper.  Poor Jake.  I thought he was just gonna die right there!  He's a lot like his mom and doesn't like crowds.  R's brother is a senior and he had a bunch of people there that we didn't know.  So I'm hiding in the kitchen and Jake was about to crawl under the recliner!!  We kept trying to find a way out!! 

We headed to the dance around 8ish.  The gym was so pretty!  It was a very typical dance where nobody danced!!  funny! 

Around 10, Jake called and said they were ready to come home.  So they came back here.  Ate and watched a movie.  We ran them off around midnight. 

Of course there was some drama that went along with the night but maybe we can forget about that part!! 

Here's some pictures. 

 

Lots of catching up!

Time is just going so fast!  I can't believe October is almost over and my Jake is about to be 15.  Where did it go?  Seems like just yesterday I was praying to have a baby, then we were decorating the nursery.  Now he's almost 15 and trying to take driver's ed.  I'm going to stop now because the tears are coming!

Let's see, in the past couple of weeks, we've had a soccer tournament (placed 2nd!), a couple of football games and just life!

This weekend is Jake's first homecoming!  The game was last night and they won!  Tonight is the dance.  We've gotten the clothes and he is going to be so handsome!  My sweet mother-in-law is going to make the corsage and boutonniere.  Jake's girlfriend's dress is black and silver, so we got red roses for the flowers.  The GF will come over here around 5 to take pictures.  I sweet talked them into doing to pictures here in front of the pond.  Then we'll go to her house for dinner.  I get to help serve!!  After they eat, we'll take them to the dance.  When they get tired of dancing, they'll come back here to hang out. 

Thursday was Josh's Cub Bowl.  At his school, there are two 7th grade teams, red and white.  At the Cub Bowl, they mix up the 2 teams and they play each other.  It's a lot of fun!  We were late for the game because the almost 15 y/o had to add a few songs to his iPod before we left!!  I wasn't really worried about because nothing exciting happens at the first of the game.  Well, I was wrong!  We get there and walk up to *our* spot and Jonah's best friend was saying something about captain.  Then his mom said something else about captain and don't worry that she got pictures.  I'm a little slow!  Josh was one of the team captains that night!!!  And I missed it! 

Josh has a girlfriend!!  She's a cheerleader at his school.  So for the Cub Bowl, she painted his number, 81, on her cheek.  Well, since they did a big switcheroo, Josh's number got changed to 82.  Poor K!!  I think she took a little ribbing about it.  Her mom and I tried desperately to get a picture of them together that night in their uniforms but it didn't happen.

Now let's talk about soccer!  Jake had a tournament two weekends ago.  I never thought he would get as much playing time as he does!  He does a really good job as a defender.  They placed second in the tournament!!  I've never seen so many smiles on teenage boys' faces as I did when they put the medal over the heads!  Jake is just beaming!! 

I have pictures of all this but my card reader is acting up.  I'll get my nerdman to work on it and post some pictures.  

There's more to catch you up on, but I have to go clean the house to get ready for tonight! 

 

Snickerdoodle Cake

One of my stitching friends shared this recipe with our group recently.  It is delicious!!  My mother-in-law makes the best snickerdoodle cookies and I couldn't wait to try this cake.  Let me know if you try it!!

Snickerdoodle Cake

Ingredients:

1 package (18.25 ounces) plain white cake mix

1 cup  milk

8 tbsp(1 stick) butter, melted

3 large eggs

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350, with rack in the center of the oven.  Grease and flour two 9 inch cake pans, or a 13x9 cake pan.  Place the cake mix, milk, melted butter, eggs, vanilla, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl.  Blend with an electric mixer low speed for 1 minute.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and increase mixer speed to medium for 2 minutes.  Divide the batter between the two pans, or put it all in the bigger pan.  Bake until golden brown, I used the times on the box for the 13x9 pan, they recommend 27-29 minutes for the two pans.  Allow to cool completely and frost.  Place cake uncovered in the refrigerator until the frosting sets, 20 minutes.  Cover the cake with waxed paper and store in the frig for up to 1 week.

Cinnamon Butter cream frosting:

    8 tbsp butter, room temperature

    3 3/4 cups powdered sugar, sifted

    3-4 tbsp milk

    1 tsp vanilla extract

    1 tsp ground cinnamon

        Blend butter with a mixer until fluffy, 30 seconds.  Add powdered sugar, 3 tbsp milk, vanilla, and cinnamon, and blend on low speed for 1 minute.

        Increase to medium speed for 1 minute until light and fluffy.  Blend in up to 1 tbsp milk of frosting is too stiff.  For cans of frosting, just add cinnamon and I will add a little vanilla extract and blend.

Think PINK!

 

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month!  And since I do mammograms for a living, I thought I should go PINK for the month!  And if you need to, go get a mammogram this month!! 

I know I am way past due for a post.  We have just been busy!  Our oldest son is playing football and soccer (we will never do that again!!) and the middle one is playing football.  And the youngest just gets drug wherever!!  Poor Jonah!!

Here are pictures!!  First is Jake playing soccer (his uniform has yet to come in).  Then Josh playing football - he is number 81.  Then Jonah with his cousin Gabbie at Brad's work picnic and Jonah climbing the rock wall.

                                   

 

                       

 

          

 

This next picture is for Laura and her followers!!  I took this at our church in the cafe one Wednesday night to prove to Laura how natural it looks for her to have TWO children!!  She's been teasing us that she is thinking about it......

More beach

We are home!  What a great trip we had.  It was very relaxing and I miss the sound of the ocean already.  I couldn't get over the difference in how the temperatures feel so differently.  Here, 94 is roasting!  Down there, it was just hot but not kill you hot.  I'm ready to go back!!

The jellyfish were really bad just about the whole time we were down there.  And the waves were very rough because of Dolly.  The last day, Friday, the boys were finally able to get in the water.  I don't have good pictures of that because I thought the big camera was in the room.  Little did I know it was in the beach bag.  UGH!  So all I had with me was my little one and the pictures just aren't that great. 

 

Ok, those that know Brad, notice anything missing??  (besides his shirt!!  lol)  and what do you think??  I'm still not sure......

Jonah was all worn out!  He looks so sweet while he's sleeping!!  lol

Jonah being *eaten* by the alligator at Fudpuckers!! 

We ate out twice while we were there.  Once at Fudpuckers and the other at the Old Bay Steamer.  My favorite was definitely Old Bay!

Here's the platter before we started:

See the steam rising up off of it??  This was the best food ever!!  Those shrimp were wonderful and the crab legs!  Oh my!!  I think I have a new favorite!!  This huge platter fed the 5 of us and we had leftovers!

And here's the platter afterwards....

There are more pictures on the big camera.  If I find some  that won't bore you to death, I'll post them!!  lol

 

Beach pictures

 

                                                  

 

 

 

These are pictures from the yesterday (Tuesday).  Think the boys are having fun??!!  When did Jake and Josh grow up?  They look so grownie!

The trip yesterday was very uneventful, just long!  We left at 7:30 and got here about 4.  The condo is very nice and the complex is small.  The beaches here are not crowded at all. 

For some reason, everybody got up early and we were on the beach at 8!!  Which turned out, was very good.  The rain set in around 1 and lasted until 4, so we got a little down time. 

We had a sand day today, as Jonah called it.  The water was FULL of jelly fish.    Nobody got in the water today.  I so hope it will be better tomorrow.  Otherwise, we might have to find some other entertainment!

Well, I think we're about to watch a movie.  The condo has some freebies that come with it, beach chairs and umbrellas, and free movie rentals!!

Beach bound!!

Hopefully at 7am tomorrow, we will be in our fully loaded, too stuffed, very expensive to drive SUV heading to Florida.  There is a condo with our name on it, right on the beach,  just waiting for the 5 of us to arrive.  I am so ready to be there. 

Things around here have been a little stressful with my grandfather-in-law being very sick and some other family drama going on.  So there are a couple of us that are ready for that beach chair, umbrella and Vanilla Coke Zero!!  And you should see the stack of books I'm bring to read!! 

We were thinking back and this will be the first beach trip that we've made since our oldest was 2 or 3.  Our middle son was just a baby.  We did stop in Destin to play for a morning when we went to Disney a couple of years ago.  So the boys are very excited!! 

Our condo does have wifi so I should be able to post some pictures from there.  If Brad will let me turn my laptop on....lol 

Hopefully I'll be tan and smiling soon!!  Oh, and this does mean I will miss my class reunion.  Will somebody please tell my best friend from high school that I won't be there?  She's not going to be happy with me at all.....

Happy 4th!! (late!!)

Hope y'all had a great day yesterday!  We did.  Started out going for a walk.  My class reunion is at the end of this month and I need to shape up a little bit.  Think I can lose 20lbs in a month??  ha!!  When I got back from walking, Jake helped me with the flower beds.  We put down some pine bark mulch.  I HATE pulling weeds and my mom had told me to lay newspaper on top of the ground before I put the mulch down.  Unfortunately, we only had enough paper for one side!!  Looks really good on one side and very sad on the other.  Hopefully I can even it up soon.

Our niece spent the night with us Thursday night.  It was fun to have a little girl around!  She's 5 and loves all things girly!!  She even had a princess nightgown. 

Brad and Josh have been working on go-carts this week.  Josh loves to ride and the go-cart he's been riding has been giving him fits.  So Brad found a new engine for it.  Josh helped Brad put it on and he is so proud!  It's so easy to crank too.  Even I can crank it!! 

After we finished with the flower beds, we all took turns riding the go-carts.  We even got Anna to ride with me!  I think she liked it.

 

Brad barbequed chicken and sausage for us.  I made potato salad, baked beans, deviled eggs and angel food cake.  We all ate too much.  Good thing I went walking!! 

Josh's Party

 

 

I hope Josh had fun today.  It was a very small party.  A lot of his friends were out of town.  We all met at the food court in the mall.  Everybody got to pick what they wanted to eat for lunch.  Then we had cookie cake.  Yummy!!  After that, it was time for the movie, Kung Fu Panda.  It was very cute!  I know I'm going to hear lines from it for awhile!!

After we got home from the party, Brad and I decided to go see his grandfather in the hospital.  He was very very sick the first part of the week, but seemed to be much better today.  He knew Brad and I by name.  They hope to move him to the rehab part of the hospital Monday and then hopefully back to the nursing home.

Brad's mom left today to go get our niece who lives in Texas.  This is Brad's sister's daughter.  Brad's sister and husband are leaving Thursday for Italy for ten days!  I would love to sneak in their suitcase!!  Jonah is very excited about A coming to stay for a couple of weeks.  She is a sweet little girl!! 

I tried something new when I did this post.  I used Windows Live Writer.  It seems to be more user friendly than blogger when drafting a post.  But since this is my first post, I reserve the right to change my mind!!  It is a woman's prerogative!!

Goodies

Jennifer sent me these purple goodies for our color exchange. I just had to show her how the pillow looked on our bed! What a great job you did matching! Did you peek in our room??!! Thanks again! I love everything!!

Today we are doing Josh's birthday party. We decided to do something small since most of his friends are out of town. The mall for lunch, a birthday cookie and a movie! Sounds nice and easy and most of all COOL!! The movie he picked out is Kung Fu Panda.

One more picture! I made these key chains for a friend at work. Isn't W precious?? I'll have to make her a new one in August because there will be a sweet baby girl joining their family then!

Stitching and Cooking

In one of my yahoo groups, we did a color exchange. Here's some pictures of what I made Cheryl. She picked the color teal. I never thought about all the shades of teal! I ended up making most of her goodies. I'm not a good shopper. The strawberry chart and instructions came from Anita's Little Stitches. ( http://www.anitas-stitching-addiction.blogspot.com/ I tried to link to it but it didn't work! sorry!) It was supposed to be done in pastels, but I did it in teal for Cheryl. I think it turned out pretty! And the bookmark was my favorite! That's the prettiest one I've done.






My BFF Laura has been bragging on me and my cooking. Wait til she finds out what I cooked tonight!! This has got to be the EASIEST chicken ever and it's the BEST. All I did was put 4 chicken breast (frozen) in the bottom of my 21 y/o crock pot (it was a wedding present!!) and poured Pace Picante sauce over it. I cooked it on high for 3-4 hours, or you could do it on low all day. Then I took the chicken and shredded it and made quesadillas. Last time I made this I did about 8 breast and froze half of it. Makes for an easy supper when you're tired and don't feel like cooking.

I haven't talked to Jake all week until today. I'm missing him!! His cousin called me today and made him talk to me. Poor Jake. He wasn't feeling very good. Said his lunch wasn't agreeing with him. Hope he feels better soon. He'll be home Friday evening. I can't wait to hear all about his week.

Happy Birthday Josh!!

Today is our middle son Josh's birthday. Twelve years ago he was born, on Father's Day! Josh always says he was the best Father's Day present ever. The joke was Brad didn't get me anything for Mother's Day that year and I wasn't going to get him anything either. Instead I gave him the best present ever!! Where did the time go? Seems like just yesterday he was a sweet little blond headed boy that said he first sentence at 10 months! I think that boy came here talking!!! He is my funny child. Always laughing or making you laugh. Now he is growing up. Going into 7th grade, working out getting ready to play football. He has the biggest heart of anybody I know. We always let the boys pick where they would like to eat their birthday dinner. A favorite place they always pick is the Japanese steak house. He wanted to go there tonight but wouldn't go because his big brother is away at youth camp. He knew Jake would be disappointed if we went without him. What a guy!! I was proud of him.

Here's my favorite picture of him. I know I've shown it before, but I love it!! He's my angel!!


We had a wonderful Father's Day yesterday. My dad and his family, my brother and his family, my aunt and mother-in-law were here. We had a house full!! Brad did an awesome job of cooking again!! There was nothing but a few french fries left. Yummy!! We got dad an iPod shuffle. Brad put some music from the 60's on it and he was in heaven!! I hope he had a wonderful day. He deserves it. He's a wonderful father. I know the day was hard on Brad. He misses his dad so much. It's hard to believe he's been gone for 2 years.

It has been a LONG day today. We got up at 4 this morning to have Jake at the church at 5 to leave for camp. UGH!! I'm ready for bed!!

Saturday

Vacation Bible School was this week at our church. I know Josh and Jonah had a great time! Jake helped with the 4th graders and was totally exhausted every day when he got home!! He told me he was NEVER having kids! lol I didn't help this year because of my work schedule. It was very strange not to be a part of it. Next year, I may schedule off that week!!

My brother called the other night to try to figure out how we wanted to celebrate Father's Day. We ended up volunteering Brad to fry fish and shrimp!! Poor Brad!!

Jake leaves for youth camp early early Monday morning, so I'm sure I'll be washing and packing today. He is so excited about going. I'm kinda sad because I'll miss him. Wonder if I should save the yard mowing for him when he gets home......I've turned him loose this summer with the yard. I hate yard work and gladly gave him the job!! Yesterday he said he mowed and weedeated for 2 hours. I was very impressed!

Stitching wise, I have pictures to show you soon of what I've been doing. It was a color exchange. My partner picked teal. I had a lot of fun with this! You know what color I picked..lol I got my package Thursday!! Jen was my partner and she has pictures on her blog!! I just love all my goodies. I've promised her a picture of the pillow on my quilt. It matches perfectly!!

Our Progressive Dinner

We couldn't decide where to go for our anniversary. Thought about New Orleans, our favorite place to go because of the food!!, thought about Hot Springs, thought about Jackson and a few other places. We just couldn't decide what to do. How sad is that?? Had a babysitter for the weekend and everything. Guess I was being to practical with gas as expensive as it is. And everywhere we wanted to go, we kept thinking that it would be more fun with the boys!! Pitiful, I know!!

So here is what we decided to do: a progressive dinner!! We have several favorite restaurants here that we like different things. Our first choice was The Warehouse, where we had the Oysters Warehouse, baked oysters covered with special *secret* ingredients like bacon and Parmesan cheese!! I don't like oysters normally but I LOVE these!! Then we went to the next restaurant, the Waterfront Grill. There we had a delicious filet covered in a shrimp sauce. That steak was so tender I cut it with my fork!! Yummy! Now by this point, I'm about to die! We are splitting all of this but still!! Our last restaurant was the Brandy House. They have a wonderful pastry chef and the dessert menu is always different. Tonight our choice was the Disgusting Chocolate. It was a flourless chocolate cake (can you call it a cake since there is no flour??) topped with vanilla bean ice cream and a rich chocolate sauce! It was sinful to say the least. I will be doing some research (googling!!) to try to make this.

We had a wonderful night! This was very fun to do!! Oh, funny story about the oysters. They're served on the half shell on a bed of rock salt. After a little while, we were trying to figure out how many we had eaten so we'd know how many we each had left to eat. There were a dozen, supposedly, to share. So he counted, then I counted, but obviously somebody else didn't count! There were only 11!! I wonder what kind of dozen that is?? Definitely not a baker's dozen!!

I wish I had taken pictures of all this wonderful food!!

Laura, on the media fast, you can't get out that easy!! Steve said that you can't do this at work BUT you can start when you get home......so I think you should join us next Thursday!! lol

Media fast, party and anniversary

We did it! Our first media fast (no tv, texting, radio, computer) was successful!! Of course it was helped greatly by the fact the we were getting ready for the baseball party at our house. I never really thought about how many times I walk by the computer to *just check my email*!! Then I would have to click on a link then just read this other website. Next thing I know, it's a 30 minutes later (or longer!!). The goal of this was not to make us miserable (!!) but to get us focused. Focused on what is important - God. I'm sure this is going to make a difference in our life!!

On the lighter side, I KNOW Jake stayed up until midnight so he could check his email and this game he plays!! Teenage boys!!

The baseball party was a hit!! Brad did an awesome job with the fish, fries, hushpuppies, cheese sticks and chicken nuggets. Our friend Wayne was able to get us fresh catfish from the catfish farm. Man oh man!! That was some GREAT fish!! Laura, please tell Wayne thank you thank you!!! Brad was finally getting to visit after frying all that food but it was time to start the ice cream. I was brave and got it ready. He is famous for this ice cream and I have NEVER EVER done it. But I wanted him to get to the enjoy the party too, so I did it! It was just as good as his! YEA! I have to tell you, I was nervous!!

Today is our anniversary!! 21 years!! That is just so hard to believe. When did we get that old?? Where has all the time gone?? Sometimes it feels like forever and others, it feels like yesterday. He is a wonderful man and treats me like a princess! It thrills my heart to know he still finds me attractive after 3 children and many extra pounds!! I love you!!

We have talked about sneaking out of town today for the weekend but I'm not sure if we will. Nothing like waiting until the last minute.....lol

Pictures from yesterday will be coming.......but don't hold your breath!!