Food, Work, and other radom thoughts!

Yeah, I will go ahead and apologize now. This is not going to be a post overflowing with darling pictures of my girls! So scroll back up and check them out in all of their summer time cuteness! :)

First off....I missed a Blog Off about favorite foods, so I am going to knock that out first. It really all depends on my mood, but here are a few things that I can always eat, no matter what!

1. Chips and Dip...me and queso go together like peanut butter and jelly! ha! Seriously, I LOVE cheese dip and chips. I try not to eat it too much, since it isn't exactly good for me, but I can NOT go home without getting queso from Tumbleweed and I will never turn it away if offered! :)

2. Popcorn...Ironic since my high school 'sweetheart' was Cousin Willie's son and I got lots of free popcorn over the years, but I loved popcorn long before that! ha! Ever since I was a little girl, if I am sick, popcorn is the only thing I can eat. Weird, I know, but it's true!

3. Seafood. Not always a popular choice amongst the masses, but I always get salmon when we go out to eat, I LOVE crab legs and lobster and shrimp BUT, I do NOT like seafood fried! I am sort of a seafood brat, I guess, huh!? ha!

4. I don't really like chocolate, cookies or ice cream all that much but if I can find a good dessert that I love, I can destroy it. I do like chocolate chip cookies and other chocolate things, when in the mood. But, I can never go wrong with a slice of white cake with white icing. Oh, I am craving it now just thinking about it.

BORING, I know! I am a creature of habit and I don't experiment much with food. I eat what I like and I have always liked the same things, basically. I have the same coffee drink and usually a bowl of cheerios every morning, I eat a banana almost every day, I eat the same granola bar every day, I could eat rice with a little salsa on it for dinner every night and be just fine. I could eat the same meal 20 times in a row and not tire of it. I am just weird like that, what can I say!? ha!

***Now on to something big that's happening around here...I am going to put this out here now, because there is a chance I will making my blog private, and this is why. (And, if I do make it private, all you have to do is send me your email and I can add you to the reader list.) I don't really want to do that, but I am still thinking about it because....Scott is deploying for work for 120 days!! Yep, 120 consecutive days, 120 days of me being a single Mom, stuck in a state with no family to help out, BUT...I am not thinking about any of that because I know we will be fine, I will be fine, I will NOT lose my mind (do you see what I have been chanting to myself over and over-haha!) And, in all seriousness, I know that it will go so quickly for us and I know military families do it for much longer (and, for them I am so grateful and will no doubt have a new found respect and gratitude), and I know that it is such a great opportunity for Scott and for us, too, so while I am slightly panicking on the inside, I also know that it will be fine. But, because I will not really want random people to know when he is gone, I am thinking about making the blog private. And, if anyone is wondering why on Earth he would be doing something like this, here is a little info...he is a Geospatial Intelligence Analyst for the Dept. of Defense, he is not military but he works along with the military and goverment. He is not being forced to go or anything like that, but it is great for him career wise and a real blessing for our family. And, he deployed to Africa before we started dating, so he knows what to expect, what sort of opportunities it will bring him (and us), and...that's that! :) Since the blog is public as of now, I am not comfortable saying when he will be leaving and returning, but...he is NOT gone now, we have a large dog, both of our neighbors are cops and they will be keeping an extra eye on things, we are installing a security system AND, I know how to shoot our guns! :) (and, yes...every bit of that is true and not at all a joke!)

*Now, scroll back up to see my little dolls again! :)

HOLIDAY WORLD!!!

The girls had never been to Holiday World, and Scott and I hadn't been since high school, so we were PUMPED! The girls and I had been at Mom and Dad's all weekend, so we all headed over and met Scott that morning right as they opened. First stop...Santa!!!

And, from that second on it was ride time!!! These 2 will ride anything. We started on the smaller rides, but soon were on every wild, big ride they could meet height requirements for. They rode everything except the big roller coasters, and if they would have been tall enough, they would have ridden those, too.



After lunch we watched the high dive show!
And, once that was over, we met my cousin, her husband and their 4 girls! Talk about a lot of wild, fun girls! :)


Me and Taylor....roller coaster buddies! Her Mom and Dad won't ride with her, so she quickly talked me into it! :) I was about half sick after the 8th ride, but we are troopers! ha! It was the first week the park was open, school was still in session and it was a cloudy overcast day so we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves...it was AWESOME! We didn't wait in a single line, most rides they would just ask when it was over if we wanted to go again. The little girls rode the little Holidog roller coaster, literally 20 times in a row!
So, while I could ride the roller coaster over and over, these darn eagles almost made me lose my lunch! Mom snapped this pic of me about to puke! ha!
Scott rode one ride with them and just about puked, also! ha! He doesn't do roller coasters or anything, actually. I don't even think he got on the scrambler. ha!
The 'wild crowd' decided to buck up and do one water ride, despite it being a little chilly. So, Scott and Kelly (my cousin's husband) stayed with the 3 girls that weren't tall enough to ride :(, and the rest of us piled into a boat and plunged into the cold water! We had so much fun. Of course, we got to go a few times since no one else was on the ride. ha!
And, wanting to have their own water fun, the girls hopped on the water bumper boats on the way out.....
and, ganged up on some poor little boy!
Group Photo!! :)
And, Group Hug! :)
Liv was mad that she had to get off the bumper boats, so she wouldn't participate in the final photo of the day, so here are all the other wild little angels!
We had so much fun. I LOVE spending time with Bobbie and her girls. They all have so much fun when they are together. And, we had a super, super fun day!

There's no place like home....

In mid-May the girls and I took off to spend a long weekend @ Mom and Dads. We rarely go home just to go home. Usually every minute of every day is planned and busy, since we try to fit in as much as we can while we are there. This time we had NO plans other than to visit and have fun! :)
My uncle re-did this storage barn in Mom and Dad's yard and turned it into a real life doll house for the girls! It's so awesome. He put flooring in and plexiglass windows so that they can't get knocked out if the big boys are playing baseball back there. He put in the doors and Mom and Timmie painted it. The girls LOVE it and have big plans to sleep out there the next time we are home!

The girls also both got new bikes to keep @ Nanny and Papaws!
Down at the creek with Papaw!
They had to pick flowers out of Nanny's yard to put in their house! :)
That Saturday morning I got up and went out to run in Ken Oppel's Memorial 5K. It was so nice to see some old, familiar faces and the race was great. I hope it continues to grow more and more each year. I am sure it will. After the race we just played around the house and then I drove up to the outlet malls in Edinburg for a little shopping. When I got home we played some more, the girls helped Dad and Uncle Danny plant the garden and we went to visit Grandma Jewell!

My silly girls in some of my old dance costumes! :)
Sunday morning we visited with Grandma Lee and had a fun girls morning. That afternoon Jessi and her boys came to see us on their way out of town! Such sweet boys!!
That night we went out to see Tonya and all of her boys, and new baby Callen! And, Katherine was there!

Wild kiddos!
I wasted no time getting my hands on the baby! :)
And, the girls had to have a turn, too! (Abby looks like such a big girl in this picture!)

All the kiddos! With all these sweet boys of Tonya and Jessi's, I am bound to marry at least one of the girls off to one of them! ha! :)
That Monday morning we met Scott and more family and Holiday World and had a BLAST...we shut the park down (pics to come soon). Overall, this was one of the best weekends I have had in a long time. There is just something so special about friends that never change and being with people that know you and love you. No matter how long in between visits, they are always the same dear, loving friends they have been since we were all kids in grade school. I cherish every minute I get to spend with them. That is the one thing I miss so much about living here...no one knows us, no one knew me as a child or teenager, they don't know my parents and family, we are always explaining who we are and why we moved here. This isn't a melting pot area...most people around here were born and raised here and so were the last 5+ generations of their family, so when there is a new family in town, everyone knows we are not from here! ha! Don't get me wrong, we have met some AMAZING people here and I have some fantastic friends that I love dearly, but I just miss being home sometimes (okay, I miss it all the time-ha!). I'm sure we always will.

Fishing Derby!

Scott and the girls LOVE fishing. They have a fishing derby for the kids each year at a Sportman's club here in town. It's always a good time. Mom, Joe, Jennifer and Preston came along this year, too! :)

I will admit, I caught most of Liv's fish! ha!

See what I mean...here I am with another one! Ha! I am not big into fishing by any means, but is it fun when you are catching them.
And, both girls placed in their age divisions! They were so excited!

Random Photos...

As I am trying to sort through pics and get things in order to upload, make CD's for our Moms, etc. these are some random ones I can across! I love the one above...they were so proud of those! :)

This was Mother's Day! I'm the luckiest Mom in the world!
Our birds. For some reason birds love this house. Anyone remember Bebo!? haha! Well, another robin made a nest in our backyard. She had 4 little birds. They have since left the nest but we checked on them everyday and even Dixon left them alone.
I LOVE this one of her...she is always talking and always has those hands going! :) I'm sure she was giving us an ear full here! ha!
Scott has been working hard in the yard! New mulch and the landscaping is looking good!
Cinderella out for a bike ride! (and, yes...when they are in 'costume' we have to address them by their character and that's how they address one another, too...it's hysterical!)
Aurora enjoying the outdoors! :)
And, Abby wrote this for me...it says Abby (heart) Mom!! She's such a doll!

1st t-ball practice!

Yep, Abby is playing t-ball. We are 3 games into the season now (and, counting the games until it's over-ha!) But, Abby does like it and when she's in the mood, she does awesome. She's a great little hitter and she's very fast, other than that, she really could care less! ha!
Stopping ground balls!
Look at her go...
And, the throw with the leg flip! haha! We have worked a lot on this and she can throw without flipping her leg now! :)
Like I said, she says she likes it and that she has fun, but I'm just not sure if softball will be her thing. Ha! She sure is cute out there playing, though, and also like I said, when she's in the mood and puts forth her best effort, she's a great little player. We've had 2 really good games and one game that we might as well have stayed home! ha!