Time goes by . . TOO QUICKLY!!!

I love reading blogs! I love catching up with my friends and their kiddos. I check them all the time to see the new happenings, but I can't seem to keep ours updated on a regular basis. We have TWO cameras (for the complete story see previous posts.) and today both were out of battery! So, I am trying this summer to update this blog on a more regular basis. So, please if I don't remind me of this post! There have been so many things happening in our world lately. I have a lot of picutres to show you, and lots of stories too!

Work is going great. Jackie is gearing up for a summer full of feeding children. I know that you have tons of people asking for your money, but please consider CityChurch. The work done with these kids is amazing. You can feed a child for $1.50 a day. That lunch sack delivers all the nutritional needs for a whole day. That's for a child here in Amarillo, not in another country that you will never see. We have been so blessed to be a small part of this amazing mission! Check out the church's website for more information! http://www.citychurchamarillo.com/ The credit union is going strong. I'm finally caught up on all that I missed in April, more details to follow. I just finished training a new teller in the drive up. She is going to be great! We have a really good team. I'm so glad that I work with such awesome people. It makes going to work so much easier when you really like it! I've been really lucky, I've really liked all my jobs!

We have been spending a lot of time outside enjoying the awesome weather. Jackie has worked so hard and made our yard so beautiful! We have some young girls that live next door to us. One day last week they were jumping on their trampoline and Jackie was outside working. They yelled over the fence, "This yard looks so pretty. You did a great job!" So, needless to say he was beaming! Last weekend Jackie and I dug up a flower bed and replaced all the dirt and planted a great little flower garden. We even planted some seeds that were starting to poke up out of the dirt today! It's been so much fun. Taylor has loved it. She comes in every night filthy when it's bath time. She loves the dirt! I guess it's the farmer blood in her! Taylor loves lady bugs! I mean LOVES them. About three weeks ago our yard was full of them. She loves looking for them. Here's a great picture of her and Jackie looking for lady bugs.

Taylor loves her swing. Here she is enjoying it! We have a park just a few blocks from the house and she loves to visit the slide. Can't get her off it. Yesterday, she went down on her belly face first every time! She's a daredevil!

Speaking of daredevil, there is a little amusement park here in town called Wonderland. A few weeks ago we went to see if Taylor was big enough for the rides. Last year she wasn't so we just rode the train and the carousel. It was late when we got there so we got in for a dollar a piece! Taylor was big enough for most of the kid rides! She rode the helicopters first and LOVED it. She didn't cry one bit, she waved at us. This ride went about 15 feet or more in the air! Then she rode the cars. She sat in a seat with a little boy and I wish I had taken the camera. She talked that little boy's ear off! She said, "Hi My name Taylor, what your name? That my Mommy and Jackie. Let's go, vroom, vroom, Taylor at the wheel!" The little boy didn't take his hands off the steering wheel, but taylor did! Then we rode the carousel. She liked it because Jackie rode a horse too. Then she rode the boats and we had to tell her three times to sit down on her bottom. The last ride was the helicopters again. She cried when the park closed and we had to go home. One day when she said the prayer at supper she said, "God thank you wonderland, thank you helicopter, thank you boats, thank you horses, thank you cars, thank you lady bugs, amen."

April 18 we had a house-warming party for all our friends. We had about 30 people here. It was so much fun. It was cold and windy, so we ended up moving inside. We had burgers and hot dogs. Kime and Whitney came up from Dallas and Kime was the chef. They were such a big help. Jackie and I tried to put this tent up and it blew down on us twice. So when Whitney and Kime got there they helped us do it again. That time it stayed up, but we got it too tight, so it ripped. So finally we decided to forget the tent. It was a great time with our friends and family. We can't wait to do it again.

April 22 Jackie and I took a honeymoon trip to Vegas. It was spectacular. We had so much fun! Our flight was great. When we landed we could see the strip and Jackie suggested that we just walk to the hotel. ha ha ha. We didn't, they cars were all driving crazy and we got all turned around, so we just got on a shuttle. This man followed us on the shuttle trying to get us to sign up for a timeshare. We got to the hotel and unpacked and then went walking. We bought tickets to a show and went back and cleaned up. The show was great. We laughed and were amazed. The second day we decided to see some more hotels. We walked and walked and walked. About 7 that night we bought a ticket for the monorail. BAD IDEA. The stations are at the very back of the hotels, so you have to walk the entire way through to get on and the entire way through to get off. We finally bought a bus ticket instead. That was a great idea. That night we were so pooped that we went to bed at like 9:00. The next day we were rested and saw the rest of the hotels. The wind was blowing so hard that the roller coasters and the Treasure Island show were cancelled. We had so much fun looking at the elaborate buildings and just enjoying being together. The Eifel tower was so beautiful. We went up during the day and at night. It was very romantic and you could see for miles. The best meal we ate was at a little burger joint called FatBurger. You have to eat there when you go. It was the most delicious burger ever, well after Jackie's burgers of course! We played some slot machines and didn't loose too much money, which was a good thing. When we got ready to come home, I got all confused about the time and we got the airport like four hours before our flight left. So, we bought some cards and dice and played games until it was time. OOPS! It was still fun because I skunked Jackie! It was so cold when we landed in Denver. We were so happy to get home to Amarillo and even more happy because Taylor met us at the airport! It was a fabulous trip. Jackie made it really special and I will never forget it!

This is the gondola ride outside the Venetian. We didn't ride, but it was very pretty.

These are the gardens outside Treasure Island.

This is the motorcycle coming out of the Harley Davidson Cafe. Every casino we were in had a motorcycle in it. They were built by some of those tv guys. The treasure Island one was weird because it had a face on the front.

I guess all sports fans have heard of the Event Center at Mandalay Bay. I had not, but Jackie insisted that we had to go there. Well, it was locked and we couldn't get in, but I snapped this great picture outside it to prove we were there!

These are the Bellagio fountains from the top of the Eifel Tower. They are so pretty, the picture doesn't do it justice.

Jackie and I waiting for the stupid monorail. We actually got very few pictures of us. I need to remember to take more on our next trip.

The Eifel Tower. It was so cool. Three of the legs went right into the hotel! Inside the hotel the ceiling was painted with clouds and it looked so real!

The New York, New York and the MGM grand lion. The New York, New York was where we saw the show. The buildings were so awesome and had so much detail.

We stayed at the Excalibur and it was very nice. It has a knight theme and it was really cool. We would absolutely stay there again. We got our hotel on Hotels.com and I was so pleased with the price and the room. Just a tip for booking your next trip!

Well, here are some house pictures for everyone to see. I will have to add another one later becuase we have most of the font painted on the outside. Here's the before, well, it's actually when I remembered that I had not taken a before picture!

Here you can see the work in progress. The dark trim is what we have been painting, no more white. The gray is now a darker shade of greyish green. It's really pretty!

Here's Taylor with her paint brush getting ready to help paint. That's also the flowerbed that we dug up, no more rocks now there's flowers there. The garage was added on and it was painted all white so it really stood out. Now it's all one color and looks a million times better.

I have been going back to school and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that I could not do it without my awesome husband. He is so understanding and helpful and makes it so much easier. I was inducted into Kappa Delta Pi which is an honor society for Education Majors. I also was accepted into Alpha Chi, which is another honor society. One of my professors entered an essay that I wrote in her class into a scholarship contest and I got an honorable mention. So things have been going very well with school. I had a 3.75 the first semester and a 4.0 this semester. I did not think it would be possible a few years ago to ever go back to school let along have great grades. I'm so thankful to have such an understanding husband who really supports me and believes in me even when I don't! I love you Jackie! This picture is from the Kappa Delta Pi induction ceremony. My mom and dad came too which was extra special!

Here's one last picture to show how big my Taylor has gotten. She talks like such a big girl. She says, "That's a great idea, Mom!" She loves to help in the kitchen. Really, she loves to help anywhere. She loves movies and sleeping with Mommy and Jackie. We are all kinda spoiled to that, but we are trying to get her back into her big girl bed. She's sound asleep in there right now. She did so good and fell asleep in there tonight while Jackie read to her. I read first and get her all tucked in, then she calls Jackie to sing to her as she falls asleep. Its so cute because he makes up these cute songs and she just loves it.