my first time

my first time voting was done in this building...

i was registered in ottine, tx at the time.

my parents lived in the country and this was our post office.

the building was built in the late 1800's and yes, this is where we got our mail.

a couple of old ladies had set up a voting area inside and my

mom met me there. i think i was the very last one to vote for the day.

(i think i might have used a pencil, but i can't be sure)

once i cast my vote, the ladies, along with my mom, clapped and cheered for me.

i thought it was a little corny at the time, 

but it ended up being a very sweet memory for me later on in life.

today, i am early voting at the hospital where i work.

i know i will wait in line, cast my vote electronically and

hear no cheers from the workers or my mom, but i might get a sticker :)

happy voting everyone!

nice day out of the office

this past thursday our school went on a field trip 

to the rocky creek corn maze in moulton.

i was not originally planning to attend; however,

my husband decided at the last minute to take off

from work and tag along. he wanted me to follow suit, so i did.

normally i would not be able to do such a thing, but the

doctor i work for is out of the country, so i

had the flexibility to be spontaneous for the day.

it ended up being a beautiful day at the farm.

the kids got to experience everything they had there 

and chad and i were there to document all the great memories.

 cari was excited!

 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade 

 they had a fun hay slide that they went down many times.

chad and i even tried it.

this was the view of the corn maze from the slide.

 they also had a huge trampoline to jump on.

 

 this was the coolest thing ever. chad and i also tried this out! super fun!

our group also got to go on a hay ride that toured the farm.

this is cami and her teacher, mrs. vance.

 

they got to see baby cows on their trip.

 

 here is chad milking a fake cow. he was only able to squirt out water!

 during our lunch, we made friends with katydid. 

 we could see it breathing.

 once we finally entered the corn maze, we found all kinds of things.

 

 this looked like corn cancer.

 the plants are very interesting.

 can you see the 2nd grade class?

 we answered questions along the way to find out which way to turn.

 they all wanted to ride together on the barrel train after the maze.

they also got to shoot corn out of a special cannon.

if you hit the target then you get a free drink.

 

here they are pretending to be in a video game.

 the sand is really lava...

 they were allowed to climb on everything, and so they did.

 we also wondered in the butterfly garden.

 these flowers always remind me of alice in wonderland. 

 they had a neat spider web to crawl on as well.

 that would be a ring pop in her mouth. i got tired of holding it!

we had a great time. cami's teacher told chad and i that 

we were a lot of fun and had to attend every field trip 

from now on. i doubt that will happen, but i am glad

that we were able to make this one!

respect...or lack thereof

tonight is the last presidential debate before our election.

i have to admit, i have not watched one of the debates yet.

#1 - i don't see myself as an undecided voter and

#2 - i don't find myself in front of the television most evenings.

but, i do see the backlash from everyone else who watches.

my phone blows up with name calling directed at the different candidates.

it is frustrating to me that our society craves and demonstrates this kind of disrespect.

i think it was best said by our pastor a few sundays ago when he encouraged us to vote for the "what" and not the "who" because the "what" is the thing that really matters and the "who" is here today and gone tomorrow.

i think people have lost their focus. we have programs on tv that make

tons of money criticizing and yelling at one another and these are grown adults that, in my opinion, know better. we are setting terrible examples to the younger generations. we are saying, "it's okay to be disrespectful to people all for the sake of politics." 

i know conservative republicans who tear apart our president because they don't agree with his agenda, forgetting that he has an office of respect. these same people who promote romney's campaign today ate him alive just 4 short years ago.

you have democrats poking fun at romney and making fun of his every move. hateful things have been thrown his way all to try and persuade voters to like their guy more.

even the leaders themselves go at it only putting more fuel to an already huge fire.

when did this become acceptable? what kind of society are we today?

i remember watching the news when every side got a chance to be heard.

people were more respectful and sounded much more intelligent than they do today.

my husband and i do not promote this type of behavior and try our best to be the better example for our children. we teach them that they are to respect those in authority. we can't just lash out people because we don't agree with them. i thought we learned this already in kindergarten. we should honor and respect our teachers, our bosses, our parents, and everyone else around us. when children show respect, it is a sign of maturity. what happened to the adults? did they somehow lose their way?

i understand people are passionate about their beliefs, but at what cost?

as a christian, it is humiliating to have hateful words spewing out of my mouth

towards another individual. it reveals a heart full of hate.

i would just encourage everyone tonight to lead by example.

focus on the "what" and not the "who" if you really want to make an impact.

but most of all, go out and vote!!! let that be your voice.

don't complain about anything if you don't do your part to contribute

and then leave it there at the poll.

"if i speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, i am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal." 1 corinthians 13:1

i said yes and the rest is history

i was awakened this morning by a tender

kiss on my check and a whisper,

"happy anniversary."

13 years ago, chad proposed to me

and i eagerly said yes!

all day long i was flooded with

sweet memories of our times together.

i was sincerely touched that he remembered today

and that he reminded me about it before he left for work.

however, good feelings went away

this evening when he revealed who i would be 

facing this week in our fantasy football league.

him! 

it just so happened to be the same week of our

"proposal anniversary" and the same week that

both our quarterbacks and  top receivers are playing

 head to head sunday at 12pm (cowboys and panthers).

he usually takes his fantasy football losses pretty hard, but

i am hoping he will stay in a good mood even after i beat him :)

i am projected to win at this point (chad just said, "excuse me!")

even still, we decided to place bets for the loser, just

to make it an even more interesting week for us.

being married is not just about the romance,

it's about all the other fun stuff in between too.

have a memorable week everyone!

bff

we enjoyed a fun-filled weekend

with two very dear friends.

when cami was a year old (2003), i started to watch

a little girl during the day and her name was lakin.

from that day forward, cami and her were inseparable.

it was a start to a very special friendship

between the girls and their family.

 we decided to move to colorado in 2006,

which ended my time as her caregiver.

we still kept in touch as much as we could

and hated that we would be so far away from them.

we moved back to texas a year and a half later,

only to find out that lakin's sweet daddy

was diagnosed with cancer.

10 months after that, he went to heaven.

no words can express the heartache we felt

and still feel for our sweet friends.

he was an incredible man and an outstanding father.

 lakin and her mother miss him tremendously, 

as do everyone else who knew him.

we had the pleasure of having them as our guests

all weekend long. we said our goodbyes early this morning

before taking cami and cari to school. 

lakin and her mom live about 3 hours away and 

we don't get to see each other very often, which made this trip so special.

we listened to them play together all weekend long :)

our girls are growing up so fast, but having her around

reminded us of when they were both toddlers.

they brought us buc-ee's fudge to sample :)

the lady doing their pedicures asked them if they were sisters :)

we ate yummy treats,

watched movies,

stayed up late,

got pampered with pedicures,

and enjoyed one another's company.

good friends are priceless treasures in life.

don't pass up opportunities to make great memories 

with those you care about and let them know how great they really are.

rainbow jeans

any else drooling over this cute trend?

if you are an old navy junkie, like myself, then i'm sure

you have seen this add and maybe thought about

purchasing a few pairs of these fun jeans.

they make regular jeans

 (aka: the old jeans in my closet from last year)

 look so boring.



since these girls look so happy wearing them

i thought i would give them a try,

considering the add says, "a perfect fit for every body."

i should have known better...

if you are a curvy women like myself,

you have to bite the bullet and

try on a pair 2 sizes up from your normal size.

(a very humbling experience for any woman)

but, i did and i'm happy to report that i am

a new owner of some brightly colored jeans.

i also got a few pairs from target.

they have this new wonderful "fit" system.

for me (the curvy lady) fit 4 is my perfect fit.

you can actually purchase your normal size

and not have a huge gap at the back of your pants.

(a problem if you have a large behind)

i don't even bother with any other fit.

i can go straight to browsing the racks

that carry that particular fit.

target finally nailed it on this new system.

they have made it easier for women to

find what they are looking for.

what's your favorite color this season?

iphone organization

when my cousin came to visit this summer
i noticed her strange looking screen on her 

ipone and asked her..."whaaaaaa?"

she told me she has everything in folders.

i thought i would hate that, until i started organizing them.

i felt like i was pinning on pintrest or something.

maybe you have already done this to your phone,

but this was an awesome feeling to only have
2 pages to flip through compared to the previous 6 pages! 

(it took 5 folders to hold all the games that my children/husband have downloaded)

the stories are always different in cari's head!

when cari was in kindergarten (2 years ago) she had

reading assignments twice a week. 

this story from the bible confused her.

after reading this page she was puzzled.

she said, "she didn't even have enough money to buy a husband?"

"wait, he has money!"

i explained that she was not trying to buy a man, 

but that she owed him money and he was coming to collect it in his money bag.

then midway through the story she stops to ask another question.

 "why do people drink oil?"

i explained that people don't drink oil, but use it for cooking or other things.

 

funny name... serious sandwich

what better event to brighten up your typical

run-of-the-mill monday than a grand opening

to one of our favorite sandwich shops!

schlotzsky's first opened back in 1971 off of south congress in austin, tx,

which also happens to be about 20 minutes from our town, kyle, tx.

we love being a part of a booming community with

new growth all around, but this store in particular had everyone extra excited

in anticipation for these serious sandwiches to be our neighbors!

even their ice cream was amazing!!!

the only problem i seem to face now is trying to 

squeeze into my skinny jeans this fall/winter

while trying to maintain a strict diet of 

sourdough buns and cinnamon rolls.