My AMAZING Early Mother's Day Gift

Last week Brian asked me if I would be upset with him if he bought me a little something for Mother's Day or for the day we found out what we are having. I told him no but not to spend too much money since we are trying to save most of what we make right now. Well yesterday he came home and asked if rather than giving me my present on one of those two days if he could go ahead and give it to me early. I was thinking something small or something for the nursery so I of course said sure. :) He came up with a package from the Ritz camera store. We have been wanting a nice camera for years, but have always said when we have a baby it will be a must. Well my sweet husband has been pulling money out of each paycheck since we found out we were pregnant and went and bought us our AMAZING camera! It's an Olympus 600 which is like the Nikon 31oo. It takes up to 3 frames per second so we will not be missing any of the cute faces that our little one will make. I am so excited! It came with two different lenses and 4 different photography classes so we can really learn how to use the camera. I'm so excited! That man contiunues to amaze me even after being married for over 6 years. He listens even when I don't think he's listening and never fails to come through with great surprises. I can't wait to post some pictures with the camera. We are going to Malibu for Wade's graduation this weekend so if we take the camera I will post some when we get back. What an exciting 1st Mother's Day present!

A crazy year!

Well, a lot has happened since the last time I posted. We started our school year with a packed schedule and nothing has changed since then. We have both encountered many challenges, but have managed to press on. We've enjoyed the time that we've had to relax, but with teaching, coaching & school schedules, those have been few and far between. Brian has coached 3 sports this year, & been working on his masters. He really loves his classes and is hoping to get an assistant principal position when he finishes school next June. In December we celebrated our 6 year anniversary with a cruise to Cozumel and Progresso. It was so nice. I think we had more fun on that vacation than we've ever had before. We just really needed the getaway. The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed so many fun adventures. In January Brian turned 30! We had a big celebration with friends and family & thanked God for the blessings we knew he would bring in the next year of Brian's life. In February we got huge news... we found out that we were expecting our first baby in October!! We kept things quiet for a while because of all that we went through to get pregnant, but it is official! We are excited to welcome a sweet little one this fall. I am currently 12 1/2 weeks pregnant and I'm already starting to show a little bit. We've had many doctors appointments and our little one is growing just as he or she should. We should know if it is a boy or a girl by the end of May and then we get the whole summer of to get ready for this baby. We feel so blessed to know that God has given us the gift of life and look forward to sharing many moments in our baby's life. God truly is good!

North Carolina Trip

Just a few of my little cousins at the Jarrett House for lunch.

Brian and I at the Braves game!

We got the up close & personal tour at CNN.

The AMAZING view from Jonathan & Jodie's backyard.

The Biltmore was a lot of fun to tour!

Every year my mom's family tries to get together. This year we decided to meet at my Aunt and Uncle's house in North Carolina. We have wanted to visit them for years and after going, I am so glad that we did. It was beautiful & we all had such a great time. Brian and I were able to spend a couple of days in Atlanta before heading up to the Asheville area. While we were in Atlanta we saw a Braves game, went on a tour of CNN, looked at Olympic Park, shopped, saw the original Chic-Fil-A, went to the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial site and just relaxed. Once we went up to Jonathan and Jodie's house we swam, went whitewater rafting, toured the Biltmore mansion, picked berries, caught fireflies, dug potatoes, had a fourth of July celebration, visited the Cherokee reservation & floated in the river. It was simply wonderful and I really think we could have enjoyed another week or two there. Hopefully we will get to go visit again soon. Other than that, we are hoping to take a couple of day trips this summer and head up to Ft. Worth to see the Mallettes again. We are enjoying relaxing & getting some much needed rest after a crazy year! Anyway, we've got company coming tomorrow and I've got a huge sewing mess on my dining room table so I better go get that cleaned up! Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

Summer Is Here!

Wow it's been a long time since I've posted! We made it through the end of the school year & are now well into summer. I'm teaching 8th grade language arts at summer school & Brian is working speed camp. We are convinced that working 1/2 days is the best thing ever. You get paid so that you can go have fun the second half of the day & still get to enjoy some freedom. It's been great. We are having so much fun hanging out with our friends, watching the world cup, exercising, having people over & just hanging out. It's been nice. We are not up to much other than that, I'm on a hunt for good or free deals constantly & that's kept me from spending money while stocking our cabinets with food & other goodies. I've done some sewing & we've worked on several projects. Brian coached the Baylor basketball camp last week & had a blast. He came home exhausted, but had so much fun. I'll post more later about what we are doing this summer. For now though, I'm off to the store & the bank before a game night with our sweet friends! Hope everyone is enjoying the summer as much as we are!

TAKS WEEK IS OVER!

When you teach in the state of Texas you dread TAKS all year! It's a time when your kids show how much they've learned or how much they hate tests. This week was TAKS week and since we are both teaching this year, it's been a LONG week! Our kids have done their best to use strategies, sit quietly & not totally lose it, but it's been tough. On top of a crazy TAKS week, I've been sick with a terribly sore throat, our computer died & the IRS denied our $8,000 tax credit for the time being because Brian owned rental property in 2006 that never got rented out. (We are fighting the denial since it was not our primary residence, but it is the IRS we are dealing with soo.... be praying that they allow us to use the information we have to show we didn't live there) Needless to say, it's been a rough week & I'm so glad it's coming to an end! On a positive note my grandaddy is recovering well & we did get an escrow check right at the time that our computer crashed. I love how God looks out for us when unexpected expenses come up! This weekend is the first time in months that we haven't had plans. The only thing on the calendar is Braden's 2nd birthday & since I'm sick I have a feeling we will just be laying around this weekend. I need that! It's a beautiful time of year & I absolutely love Spring, but I am really going to be loving life when Memorial Day comes! That will mean summer is here and other than working a half day for three weeks, the lazy time of life will begin! I'm so excited about that! Anyway, that's about all that's going on with us for now! Hope everyone else is having a great week. :)

Summer is getting closer...

I truly love Spring! It's a time when the weather is beautiful, people are generally in good moods because things aren't too stressful & fun things are going on. I think we are both to the point that we know summer is upon us, & are so excited for school to be out. However, just because we are excited we know that while we still have a few precious moments with our kids we have to use our time wisely. Each of us have students that are going through some really difficult things. I have students doing drugs, huffing, dealing with the death of a sibling, thinking about suicide, going through custody battles & just learning that people aren't always who you think they are. It's been draining. However, when I'm exhausted because I spend my day trying to convince them that there is more to life than junior high and the struggles they are facing now, I think of what they are dealing with and press on. It's crazy to me that 12 year olds have the amount of pressure on them that they do & how hard it is to go through this time in their life. I don't think I'd return to junior high even if I were offered a large amount of money because it seems to be such a tough time of life. I'm just glad that things do get better, that I am able to have the time I have to try to make a difference in their lives & that soon they will get a break from dealing with the every day stress of school. The kids need a break, they are mentally drained and so ready for summer. It's exciting to me that summer will be here in just over a month...Hopefully I will be able to get through what God wants me to in that amount of time.

What a great weekend!

This weekend was great! We started it off by going to the Dynamo game with Scott & Cortney on Thursday! That was a new thing for us, but we had a blast! Brian actually ended up being on the news that night talking about his predictions for the season. After that we slept in on Friday, (what a good Friday), went out to eat, did a little shopping, cleaned the house up for company and then had a few friends over for dinner. We celebrated our sweet friend Amanda's birthday with games & good food. It was fun. We decided while playing games that soon we want to host a TNT game night for all of our friends at church. So often we get to hang out in small groups, but it's rare that everyone can get together. So... we want to make that happen soon. On Saturday we slept in again, got up and worked on the yard a little & then went to the home show in The Woodlands. It was fun. We walked around looking at AMAZING homes that we would never own but getting some cool decorating ideas. We got a picnic lunch out of the deal & again had fun just hanging out with The Worley's squared. We rushed home to get dinner together for mimi and grandaddy to come hang out. Brian grilled steaks & mimi made fudge! The boys hung out and watched the ball games while Mimi and I worked on getting Easter stuff together. It was such a special evening. As my grandaddy begins to have more and more health problems, I begin to cherish my time with them more and more. I've always been a mimi & grandaddy's girl, but I sure do appreciate moments with them now more than ever before. Sunday we went to church with Brian's parents and then had lunch there. After finishing lunch we came home to get things ready for the week. This week is TAKS week so things are a little hectic for the kids & the teachers. We are trying to make it!! I think I heard someone say 41 days left of school. It's so hard to believe. Other than that, we got to go to opening day of the Astros season last night and loved our sweet date night. Since we've been married we've made Astros game a date night favorite and look forward to the season starting back up again! Memories with my sweet husband are special & I cherish all of the time I get with my coach! :) Soccer season has begun so our life is about to get crazy again! We're having fun, loving life & just living day to day!