Fun times in June!! Parties, Parties, and more Parties!

June was a fabulous month! We had so much fun. We got to spend a lot of time with family and friends. We are really enjoying our backyard and are spending lots of time outside.

I love when I go to people's houses and they have handprints in the concrete. My grandparents had a slab of concrete where my mom's handprint was. I loved seeing how my hand measured up against hers. Well, we are not pouring concrete any time soon, so we painted our hands on the concrete at the corner of our drive way. It was fun, but hard to get Taylor's fingers to spread out just right. I'm so proud of the way it turned out.

May 29th was my dad's 50th birthday. He was in Phoenix so we had his party on the 13th of June. I made all the invitations by hand and then mailed them. He knew we were having a party, but they had no idea who was coming. It was a great party! We are so blessed to have a home where we can have people over to visit. No, the smoke alarms didn't go off. And yes, there were 50 candles on that cake. This cake I made by hand. It was yellow with chocolate frosting, Dad's favorite!

Here's the spread of all the goodies. We bought a bunch of balloons, but the wind got up so most of them popped. I LOVE balloons, they really say party! I was disappointed about the balloons, but the rest of the party went awesome.

This is Stan and Becky Maxwell. My dad and him have been friends a VERY long time. He was even in my parent's wedding. They share the same anniversary and used to celebrate it together every year. I don't have enought space to put pictures of everyone who came on here, so I'll just share a few.

My cousin Matt, his wife Amy and daughter Krissy came to the party! They moved way up north for a few years and are finally home! It was so great to see them. I am almost embarrased to admit, but they have been married around 6 years and I had never met Amy. Ouch, I know crazy!

Kime loves to grill and so does Jackie. Jackie always says he's so happy because his cook drove all the way from Dallas! They did a great job and the burgers, brats, and hot dogs were awesome!

A bunch of Dad's friends from work came to the party, which was so awesome! It was really nice to put some faces to names of people I had heard about over the last 26 years. He's been at Pantex forever. It was kinda hard to know who to invite, because he can't really talk about work, but they were so helpful in helping me add to the list!!

Here's the great cake! I was so proud of it because it was two layers and didn't crack down the middle like the last layered cake I made did!!

Here's the cake we ordered from Ms. Piggy's, a bakery here in town. It turned out awesome!! I didn't want to ruin it with candles so that's why we had two cakes! Plus this one was strawberry and so we had to have his favorite!

I love the billboards that you see that say Congrats, or Will you marry me?, or Happy Birthday. So, we made one since we couldn't rent one! I took sheets and painted them and then my amazing husband mounted them on the side of this truck we borrowed from the church. It turned out great and let everyone be sure of where the party was!

I have more party pics to add, but I can't seem to get them added, so I will move along and try again later!

The next weekend we had a sunday school class social at our friend's Greg and Dawnette's house. They have the most amazing backyard. The grass is awesome, the plants are beautiful, and it doesn't even feel like you are in Amarillo. It's so peaceful and we LOVE going over to visit there! Here are some of the kids playing on the huge swing they have.

Here's Shawn chasing one of the cats. They have these black and white cats that the kids love to chase and catch. They had some tiny baby kitties. Taylor kept calling them Catties. They were so cute and I really don't even like cats.

Since we had leftovers from Dad's party, we loaded up the grill and headed over to their house. Jackie did a great job on the burgers, then Tom took over. It worked out great!!

Here's Wes, Donnie, Greg, and Dakota having a great chat. They have a fire pit which last time we roasted hot dogs on. Dakota started a fire for us and by the end of the night it was so nice!

Here's some more people that were at the party. We are so blessed to have such awesome friends where we go to church! We love spending time having fun with people who love the Lord like we do! The guy in the OU hat is Rod, Taylor LOVES hanging out with Rod. She's always so happy to see him!

Thursday Jackie stayed home with Taylor. They went to the store and he let her pick out a pool. She has went swimming everyday in it. She loves this pool. She keeps saying how she can't wait to go swimming with Emma and Cole when they come this weekend! She likes the slide, but she wants to go down backwards, which is very funny to watch!

My husband is so very talented. He is so gifted with his hands. He can build and fix anything. Friday at work a member told me about Backyard Adventures closing here in Amarillo. They are selling a lot of stuff for extremly cheap. Slides that had minor defects were only $10. We had been shopping around for a slide for Taylor to have. We have been collecting lumber too. I called Jackie as soon as I got off work and told him to turn around and head out there. The man was so nice. We got so much great stuff for her swingset. Jackie stayed up until 1 in the morning building so that Taylor could use the slide first thing Saturday morning. He did an awesome job. It's not quite finished, but it looks so awesome! We got stuff for a rope ladder on one side and a rock wall on the other. We got swings and teeter-totters and steering wheels to add to it too! It's going to be so awesome when it's all done. Here's Taylor taking her first trip down in her jammies. We were so excited we showed it to her as soon as we woke up. She opened the door and said, "WOW, LOOK AT MY SLIDE!" Her eyes were the size of silver dollars. It was better than Christmas!!

Saturday we drove to Guymon, OK for a funeral for one of Jackie's aunt. We spent the afternoon driving around seeing all the sites and where he lived and went to school. We even got to meet a few of his friends. It was so much fun. They have a little lake there, well it's really a pond. They had paddle boats and a little train that went around the water. It was so much fun. I wish I would have taken my camera. It was really neat. They even had fishing in the little lake. Taylor had so much fun and didn't want to leave!

Fun, Fun, Fun

Well, well, well, the front of our house is finally painted! It looks so awesome! I'm so proud of
it! This morning while I was at my water aerobics class, Jackie took off the door and taped and painted it! I was so excited when I got home. The whole house is the grey color now. We still have some trim to paint, but for the most part it's finished! I'm so glad that Jackie is a super painter! He did such a great job and it looks exactly like I wanted. You can also see the flower bed we cleaned out before Mother's Day. It's so wonderful to have your own home that you can paint or do whatever you want to with!


While we started painting Taylor slept in until 9 o'clock. That's an amazing feat. She hardly ever sleeps past 8. So we were able to get a lot done without her "help." She is very active, she's a doer and not a watcher! She loves to be right in the middle of everything. Jackie had a bucket of water he was using to set up the sprayer. Taylor washed her hands in it, and that was just the beginning. Then she wanted to put her feet in. Before we knew it, she was inside the bucket with all her clothes on. So, she and I went inside, slathered up with sunscreen, and dug out a swimsuit. So, this is what she did while Jackie and I were painting. This is her being a fountain. She loves to make wishes at fountains. Too bad my paint clothes didn't have pockets for some pennies!


She had to refill the buckey about four times because when she would jump in the water would splash out. She loves to play with water. She loves to splash in the tub, water plants, wash dishes, wash her hands, if it involves water, she's there!


We have a big tote outside that we throw all her outside toys in so they aren't all over the yard. So, since she didn't have much room in the bucket, I dumped out the toys and we started filling that up. But, go figure, she wanted the bucket! Here she is filling up the tote.


Jackie had to join in on the fun too! She saw me squirt him with the hose, so of course she had to try it too. It was really, really cold water! Doesn't the grass look pretty and green?


Jackie and Taylor didn't want me to squirt them anymore! Taylor had to go inside and get her baby to play too. Good thing the baby will go in the washing machine!


Taylor loves to flex her muscles to show how strong she is. We have been working on eating "smart food" aka veggies, so her brain will grow just like her muscles! She even makes a serious face, it's hilarious!! Here Jackie and Taylor are comparing muscles!


Taylor had to go take a break for a drink of water, so Jackie was left alone in the tote. It really is not that big, but we all had a blast playing in it today. Guess this means we need to buy a pool. The sun was shining, but the yard was nice and shady and the wind was blowing so we all got really cold. Taylor's teeth were chattering, but she was having so much fun and didn't want to quit!


It was such a great day! We got a lot done and had a whole lot of fun!! I'm so glad that Jackie likes to relax and have fun.

Last Saturday, my dear friend Mindy and her son JJ, drove up from Lubbock to spend the afternoon with us. The kids had so much fun playing together. It was so great to see her. Taylor loves to read, she draged JJ into the chair and read him her Dragon book. It was so cute.


We went to the zoo. The Amarillo zoo is small, but it's the perfect size for two toddlers. By the time we walked through it, they were tired.


Here is the resting place when we finished seeing the animals. Jackie kept tickling them and they just laughed and laughed.


Mindy brought a wagon, and it was so good. Taylor wanted to push it instead of ride in it though. They look so cute here in their shades with their suckers. They had so much fun playing!





On Monday, Memorial Day. We drove to Plainview and celebrated Cindy's birthday. We went to a Japanese restaurant and Cole and Emma loved the fire, but it scared Taylor. Then we took the kids to the park to burn off some energy and give the grown ups some time to talk. It was so much fun. I'm so glad we are so close to them. Cindy is a great friend and I'm so thankful to get to see my niece and nephew grow up.

I'm bummed this picture did not turn out better. Taylor and Cole were just swinging on this tire swing and chatting. It was so cute.

Here's a picture of Josh and Cole taking a break from playing.

This playground in Plainview was so awesome. There were tons of things for the kids to do. Taylor and Emma started sharing the swing, but it didn't last too long. They wanted to go higher, but they couldn't with both of them in it.

Emma and Taylor love spending time together. I love this picture of them holding hands. They have so much fun playing and laughing together. Taylor even calls Emma on her phone to tell her about her day.

This is a great picture of the three of them. It's hard to believe how fast they are growing. It's so hard to get three little ones to all pose and smile for the picture.

Saturday Jackie made my day and took me to the George Strait concert at the new Cowboys Stadium in Dallas. It was an amazing time. We got up early Saturday and drove to Dallas. In Bowie we had car trouble and one of the spark plug wires quit working. Thankfully, Jackie had already bought them. A nice mechanic in town let him borrow some rags so he wouldn't burn himself too bad. We got to the concert at 6. We missed the first act, we made it in time to see Blake Shelton, Reba, and of course GEORGE!! The stadium was awesome. We climbed to the very top to see how big it was. They even opened the roof which was really cool. I couldn't take my camera in because it had a video camera on it. I got some pics with my cell phone, and they are ok. We had a great time and really enjoyed being together. We got back Sunday morning just in time to get dressed and to pick up kids for church. We didn't get to sleep until Sunday night at 11. It was exhausting but worth every minute. Thanks to mom and dad for letting Taylor stay the night.

We are getting ready for a big party for Dad's 50th birthday on Saturday. It's going to be great. I will post pics from it soon!

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.