II Chronicles 7:14

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Friday, March 31, 2006

Shorts today, Sweaters tomorrow!

The weather in this state is so weird. Only a week ago, there was snow on the ground...now today, we are outside in our swimsuits playing in the sprinkler! Don't get me wrong, I am not really complaining. Personally, I like inconsistency---it keeps things interesting. Plus you can look at it like this...a cold day and then a hot day is better than 2 cold days! right?
This has really been a nice day! Mom and I got up and got the kids ready. Then we drove into town and dropped Brooklyn off at school and then Mom and I went and tanned. (One of us watches Grant while the other tans and then vice-versa.) Then we ran to Gordmans and mom got a great bargain. She found a wrought-iron stand and plant that she wanted to buy for the entryway in her new house. It was marked $40 but the stand was a little wobbly so she asked if they'd take some money off. They agreeed to 10%....but when she got to the register, they gave us coupons for 20% off a single item...and it rang up on sale already for $12.99...so that plus the two discounts and she ended up getting it for about $8. Wow! God sure blesses us a lot! I got Grant an Adidas hooded sweatshirt and 2 Adidas long-sleeved T-shirts (for next winter) for $3 each! Woohoo! I LOVE bargains! Anyway, after that, we picked Brooklyn up from school, ran by Braums and ate lunch and then went to the park and let the kids play. Then we came home, changed into our bathing suits and played out in the back yard all afternoon. I knew it was time to come in though and put Grant down for his nap when I saw him nodding off in the baby-swing! ha ha Poor little guy! He's used to taking a nap around noon and I didn't put him down today until 4! Anyway, Matt just walked in from work and I should probably get up from here and go start dinner. I am making chicken quesidillas tonight! YUM! (oops, Kandy...this won't be good for my diet! hee hee) Maybe I'll get up early tomorrow morning before everyone else wakes up and go to the gym though!?! We'll see! Well, I hope you all have a wonderful, relaxing weekend! I think I am going to take the money I made from JBF(selling the kids old clothes) and go buy them one of those Little Tykes play houses they have at Wal-Mart. I made $144 and those little houses are $133 so that should be just about right! Plus, Brooklyn has always wanted one. Okay...really, I am going! Bye!!


Brooklyn pushing Grant on a "Big Boy Swing!!" (his first time ever!) It was SO beautiful outside today...we actually put on our swimsuits and played in the sprinkler! Posted by Picasa


Me and Grant playing outside! Sometimes (like right now) it is SO nice to live in the country (where you can walk around in your bathing suit and no one can see! ha ha) Hey, I might even buy a bikini now! Posted by Picasa


What a goof ball! Posted by Picasa


Brooklyn making silly faces at me! Posted by Picasa


Brooklyn cracks herself up! ha ha Posted by Picasa

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Blonde Joke

***Disclaimer***I have nothing against blondes and when it comes to being air-headed, I don't have a lot of room to talk. I swear these blonde streaks in my hair seep through to my brain sometimes! ha ha So anyway, if you are blonde, and you are reading this, I hope you #1 think it is funny and #2 "get it" quicker than I did! ha ha

A blonde woman was speeding down the road in her little red sports car and was pulled over by a woman police officer who was also a blonde. The blonde cop asked to see the blonde driver's license. She dug through her purse and was getting progressively more agitated. "What does it look like?" she finally asked. The policewoman replied, "It's square and it has your picture on it." The driver finally found a square mirror in her purse, looked at it and handed it to the policewoman. "Here it is," she said. The blonde officer looked at the mirror, then handed it back saying, "Okay, you can go. I didn't realize you were a cop."

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Happy Anniversary, Hunny!

Today is our 8 year anniversary! Hooray! What a fun year it has been. So many things have happened this past year...the biggest being having our dream home built and moving into it...and secondly us taking our dream vacation! It just amazes me everytime I take the time to think about it, how blessed we are! We are rich in so many ways (money least importantly). I have to keep this quick...I have a bubble bath waiting for me...but I just had to do a quick post and tell my sweetheart Happy Anniversary. I can't imagine having shared my life with anyone else. We have been through so much together and no one could ever take your place! I can't wait for all the years and memories that are still to come! It is going to be so much fun growing old with you baby!

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Cruisin' the Carribean!!!

Hi guys! It's so good to be back home! What an exciting week we had! I am afraid if I just start talking, I might ramble for hours...so I am going to give you a day-by-day break down of what we did while we were gone!

Saturday--Left for Galveston. Ended up stopping about 3 hours away and spending a fortune, I mean spending the night, to stay in a hotel and get some sleep.

Sunday--Got up and headed out for Galveston. Boarded the ship around 3 pm. We didn't get our luggage until about 7 pm that night so we just ate at the 24-hour pizzaria out by the pool. The ship set sail around 6:30 pm for Jamaica.

Monday--Got up when we felt like it (aughhh...how nice!), got breakfast and hung out by the pool most of the day. The waves were unusually big and the ship was very unsteady (choppy) all of Monday and most of Tuesday. Monday night was "formal night" in the dining room. We both ordered steak and our waiters sang Happy Anniversary to us and gave us our dessert with a candle in it. We weren't as impressed with the food as we had expected to be, but then we aren't really what you'd call "fancy-food" eaters. (which is mostly what they serve in the dining room).

Tuesday--Another day at sea (en route to Jamaica). Didn't do a whole lot of anything. We did attend country line dance lessons which was funny. There were so many people that everyone was running into one another. We also found out that the ship had picked up 28 Cuban refugees that were in desperate need of help on Sunday while near Galveston and that we had stopped off through the night to drop them off in Cuba! That was sorta freaky and weird...to think these people had been sorta "hiding" somewhere in the ship the whole time and that all of this took place while we were sleeping!

Wednesday--Ship ported in Jamaica and we paid $110 to take a tour to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville in Negril, Jamaica. It is located on 7 miles of white-sand beaches with the clearest water EVER! This was QUITE an experience. Almost immediately we were offered drugs! (which we had been warned about). Once we settled into our beach chairs along side the water, there were people constantly asking us if we wanted to purchase time using some of the various water-sport-vehicles. We could have done jet ski's, parasailing, snorkeling or went out in a clear-bottomed boat. We ended up paying $35 to use a jet ski for 30 minutes. It was a blast EVEN though Matt just HAD to do donuts and dump us off into the middle of the ocean! (okay, that may be a bit of an exaggeration but it felt like the middle! It was WAY far from land, that's for sure!) Thank GOD for life jackets or I would have been REALLY freaking out! One thing I learned---they aren't kiddin' when they say the ocean is salt-water! During the time that I was scrambling to get back onto the jet ski, I guess I gulped a mouthful of water and OHHH NASTY! It tasted like I had just took the top off of a salt shaker and poured it right in! It took probably half an hour or more to get that salty taste out of my mouth. We spent most of the day at the beach so when we finally got back on the ship, we just showered and brought pizza back to the room and pigged out. Matt got his feet really sunburned so wearing shoes or being in the sun was pretty painful for him. We did go to the evening show that night which was an amazing magician flown in from Las Vegas!

Thursday--The ship ported in Grand Cayman. We decided against taking a tour or going on an excursion and decided to just walk around. There were lots of shops and we ended up buying most of our souvineers there. We got Brooklyn and I matching Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts and got Grant a cute one there too (and Matt a hat). That night on the ship was the 2nd formal night and we decided to try lobster for the first time. Actually, to be safe, we decided I would order steak and Matt would order Lobster, that way we could try it, but if we didn't like it, we could share the steak. Neither of us loved the lobster, but we didn't hate it either...just probably wouldn't ever get it again.

Friday--Our last place to go, Cozumel, Mexico. I started the day out with aerobics in the gym--which turned out to be the worst aerobics class I have ever been involved in! I am not kidding..the poor guy teaching it was clearly out of shape and had no rhythm or beat in his body! I am sure it was quite a site watching the 5 us that took the class try to keep together without any kind of beat to follow! At least I got a work out trying! ha ha As for our day in Mexico...Again, we passed on paying a fortune to do any scheduled activities ($125/person for snorkeling or swimming with dolpins) and just walked around ourselves. We almost rented a scooter/motorcycle thing but realzed that I was wearing a very short skirt that would absolutely not be conducive to riding on any kind of bike. Also, they wanted our credit card and that was a little "scary". (this was NOT a reputable looking place--more like a little hole-in-the-wall) We ended up taking a snack break at Fat Tuesday's and eating some of the worst chips and queso either of us had ever had. We thought it pretty ironic that the mexican food in Mexico was so yukky! We passed what seemed like thousands of little shops (most of them silver jewlery) and happened upon a guy on the sidewalk doing henna tattoos. We both decided it would be worth the $15 to get one (they last about 3 weeks) if for nothing else---for the shock value from my mom when we got home! ha ha. They turned out pretty good. They don't look "real" close up...but from a distance, you could be fooled. That night's show was an extraordinary juggler and a hilarious comedian.

Saturday--A fun day at sea. I started out the day with a work out in the gym and then we decided to take advantage of the ship's spa and get massages. It was expensive($110) but wonderful. One of us got a 25 minute massage while the other one got to lay in a floating bed..and then we switched. The floating bed thing was neat. You lay down on what kind of looks like a deflated air bed...and then once you're all comfy...the lady turns on the (very warm) water and it fills the "air bed" up. Basically it was like a waterbed, but you're completely wrapped in it. Anyway, it was a very relaxing experience. After that, we got cleaned up and went to dinner and the evening show.

Sunday--Got up at 5:30 am to finish our packing and try to self-assist our way off the boat before all the other people (who needed assistance with their luggage to get off). Supposedly, if you could "self-assist" you would have a much quicker and easier time getting off...However, it turned out that a very unexpected and large number of people had decided on this route and it took us 2 hours just to get off the boat--but then we were on our way. A 8-9 hour drive and then we were HOME! It felt so good to have our kids back in our arms! 8 days is TOO long to be away from them! I couldn't believe how much we missed them! Plus, that is by far the longest I have ever gone without talking to my mom and I was really missing her too! It feels so good to be back! All in all...we had a good time but we both agreed the next time we ever take a cruise, it will be with a group of family and friends rather than by ourselves. Most of the people seemed to be with groups of people and that just looked like a LOT more fun. There is only so much you can say to each other (when there is just 2 of you) before you've said it all--ya know!?!
Anyway...that's what we've been up to! Hope you all had a good spring break too! Enjoy all the pictures!!


The vacation of a lifetime!! Posted by Picasa


The last night aboard the ship, they had fellow-cruisers "be" different famous singers for the last show. Here is a picture of our very own Britany Spears. She couldn't sing...but she looked cute. Posted by Picasa


One of the shows we saw. Posted by Picasa


Hey, these little umbrellas from my drinks look kinda cute in my hair too!  Posted by Picasa


Matt on one of the beautiful staircases aboard the ship. Posted by Picasa


Our towel elephant and me! Posted by Picasa


Matt's feet got SO sunburned in Jamaica. Poor Guy!! Posted by Picasa


Another look at our finished tattoos! Posted by Picasa


Thank you for the beautiful flowers, Amy! This trip wouldn't have happened without all your help! Posted by Picasa


Mr. Tough Guy! (the tattoo turned out pretty cool)! (We got these in Cozumel, by the way) Posted by Picasa


Matt getting his henna tattoo! Posted by Picasa


Me getting my henna tattoo! Posted by Picasa


Big Foot!!! Posted by Picasa


What an animal lover...he even pets the statue-ones! hee hee (honestly, I MADE him do it!) Posted by Picasa


We heard not to drink the water in Mexico! Now we know why! ha ha ha Posted by Picasa


Nice Bar stools, huh? If you can't tell, they are saddles. Posted by Picasa


Matt and I took a break from shopping and had chips and queso at Fat Tuesdays in Cozumel. Pretty bad when the mexican food in Mexico is the worst we've ever had! Oh well, the drinks were good!  Posted by Picasa


That is Grand Cayman you can see in the background. We didn't do much there...besides shop, but it was fun! Posted by Picasa


Yes, you are reading correctly....Six Bucks for a Coke!!! Posted by Picasa


Look out!!!!!!! A shark!! ha ha Posted by Picasa