The Life of Jake & Jillie

Reunion with a great friend

2011-12-14T10:11:00.000-08:00

The other night Jake & I got the chance to meet up with one of our great friends that we were very close with while we were at ACU since we are all currently living in the Houston area. It was SO awesome to be reunited and get to catch up on the past three years pretty much. It was a very interesting adventure getting together though, since Jackie works for one of the local Houston newspapers she had access to some great local restaurants from some of her colleagues who does local restaurant reviews. Well the one we had researched online, found where it was, and looked at all its reviews ended up being ALOT different than it looked online so we went on a little adventure on Westheimer to find dinner elsewhere haha! So we ended up going to The Fox & Hound Pub & Grill which was really fun, food was great and the drinks were really good priced, I didn't have a drink, but Jake had two beers which he really enjoyed!

But the company was so much better than any food or drinks anywhere could have been, it was definitely JUST what I have been needing! Since our year has been such a whirlwind through medical hurdles, long hospital stays, moving, and anything and everything else you could think of it has been a hard year to say the least! Since I have gotten better health wise we have been trying to find a home church which has been pretty hard. And as nice as it is to live here in Houston and be close to my sister, brother in law, and new precious nephew along with the rest of my extended family we would really love to find a small group of friends at a church to get to know. But it was just so great getting to catch up and have dinner together because she is kinda in the same boat since she moved to Houston from Denver this summer and is going through a similar process of finding a home church, new friends, and just making Houston her new home so it just felt so PERFECT! But anyways Jake & thoroughly enjoyed getting together with a great friend from the past. We both just loved how you can go from not talking to a great friend for like three years and instantly pick up like you saw her just a couple of days ago. And luckily we don't live too terribly far away from each other which is a blessing in the Houston area. So we are definitely planning on getting together again very soon, which thankfully is going to be so much easier when I can drive myself places again, soon and very soon! I think I don't realize how much I need friends until I am with great friends from the past or present and then it becomes very apparent!

Here is a picture of Jackie & I probably about three years ago at a local coffee shop in Abilene we all used to hang out with while we were at ACU. Such good times at Tuscanys!

My New Love

2011-12-09T14:34:00.001-08:00

This post may be a bit longer than others, but it is one of the most precious one I've written yet so I hope you enjoy. After Thanksgiving my parents and brother decided to head back to Abilene on Sunday around lunch time, they had planned to leave earlier but my parents, brother, and Jake all got sick with sinus congestion and cough type stuff along with the stomach bug so they decided to stay an extra few days so they could get betters! Luckily our sweet little baby M decided to wait and not come Thanksgiving weekend since most our family was sick. But we all just knew the minute my parents got back in Abilene some baby action was going to happen down here in Houston and that it did!

So last Tuesday, November 29th around noon I was sitting around just watching tv and on the computer and lounging around my phone rang. And I saw my sister was calling which is a very odd time for her to call since she would have been at work during that time. But I kinda had a sneaky feeling why she was calling, so she had been not feeling good all morning that day and decided to go into the doctor and found out she was in fact in labor and was being admitted to the hospital. So being that I can't drive I was a little concerned I was going to have to wait on Jake to get home from work to go up to the hospital but since none of their bags and baby stuff were in the car with them Matt had to come home and pick up everything and take it all back up to the hospital. So I was in luck being that we live so close he was nice and offered to come pick me up and go up to the hospital with him, which was so great. I think Matt and I got up to the hospital around 2ish and Jenna was all hooked up to the monitors, ivs so she could get her pitocin and everything. And much to my surprise she was just hanging out happy go lucky not in any pain at all, I was secretely hoping in my head"God please let my pain tolerance be this high when I have my babies" haha. So we all just hung around until around 5 or 6 and about then my Nana and Aunt Monica arrived to await the new family member and I stepped out to the waiting to update them on everything. Not long after they arrived Jake got off work and came up to the hospital to join everyone else waiting. After he got his clothes changed and everything we went to eat some dinner since it still looked like it was going to be awhile longer till alot more action happened so went down the road to Freebirds and had a delicious burrito, I love me some Freebirds!

Afterward we headed back up to the hospital and things were starting to move along and my parents had finally arrived at the hospital all the way from Abilene, needless to say they were probably driving pretty fast! So the rest of the night we all just pretty much waited and waited some more. But finally at 11:20 p.m. on November 29th, 2011 our sweet little Parker James Manges arrived into this world weighing in at 7 lbs, 9 ounces and 20 1/2 inches long. I can honestly say I have never felt this sort of emotion ever in my life and it was one of the greatest feelings ever in my life so far at least! While we waited for our sweet baby to arrive we all took bets on the gender, weight, and time of arrival which was really fun to see who was going to be the closest to being right. I just knew it was going to be a boy from the moment my sister told me she was pregnant back in April and I was right on with the gender, I was off a few ounces on the weight, but I was the closest on the time of arrival. But the worst waiting period was probably the last 30 minutes but no one had come out and told us if the baby had arrived or not much less if it was a boy or girl. The moment we went into the room and finally saw him in my sister's arm and saw his precious little face really was just like everyone tells you, totally indescribeable!

Enjoy all the pictures of our new precious baby Parker, if you can't already I'm loving more than anything being Aunt Gigi!!

Bailey (Matt & Jenna's dog) relaxing on her bed probably trying to get over the lack of attention she is getting, her first couple days were a difficult transition, but she is doing great now!

Parker's sweet footprints in his cute babybook

Parker James & his sweet mommy, they both looked so happy and content!

Parker James Manges about 30 minutes old

Parker out cold after eating, this was on the day after he was born (Wed. Nov. 30th)

Laying around sleeping in Jenna's arms

LOVE this picture, he really is so perfect!

Parker getting all wrapped up in his blankets by my mom who has yet to choose a grandparent name, really wishing she would hurry!

Sometimes he has the most serious looks on his face, but it is just the cutest thing in the world.

Chief (my dad) and sweet little Parker the day after he was born. I can already tell how much little Parker is already changing all of our lives, my parents included and as cheesy as this sounds it really is the sweetest, most special thing to watch my parents become grandparents and seeing how this changes their outlook on life. And it has been so amazing watching my sister and brother in law become parents, they are doing a great job so far. Everything about this little life and how it changes all of us is just so amazing!

Here is a picture of the wreath I worked on for the past few weeks for Parker's arrival. I had such a gut feeling that my sister was having a boy I knew these colors would work out perfectly. Although his room is done in gender neutral colors and decorations that it would have been just as cute if it had been a girl. Jake & I waited to put the initials on it the morning after he was born, we actually got up early the day after and ran to Hobby Lobby to get wooden letters and spray paint. We even spray painted them in the parking lot of Hobby Lobby, let them dry a little bit in the parking lot, turned the air on full blast while we drove to the hospital so they could finish drying. Then once we got to the hospital we went and got breakfast at this bakery inside the hospital and glued them on the wreath inside the bakery with the hot glue gun we brought with us from home haha. It was definitely a process but I was determined to make this baby the cutest arrival wreath and I love it so much and think it turned out so cute. Most of the guests that came to the hospital loved it and commented on it too and it now hangs on the front of Parker's bedroom door.

Parker James & Aunt Gigi the day after he was born...this was the first time I had gotten to hold him, so special :)

Such beautiful flowers that Matt's dad had delivered to the hospital from a local florist in the Galleria area, they were seriously so so pretty, it was a bouquet of white roses, green hydrangeas, and pink peonies.

Another picture of Parker & Aunt Gigi the day he came home from the hospital

sweetest sleeping baby

LOVE this boy!

I think I see a sweet little smile hiding in there somewhere!

I have a feeling those will be some chubby little cheeks someday soon, so so precious!

My mom & Bailey who at this moment really really needed attention as she proceeded to climb into my mom's lap and practically hug her and keep in mind she is no lap dog haha, but it was one of the funniest things ever!

A view of the new parents and my mom during his first few days home...the media family haha.

Parker after his first little sponge bath at home, he can't have a full bath until his umbilical cord falls off. But surprisingly he actually loved his bath, it was warm and relaxing and his pacifer made it so much better for him.

Sweet one of Jenna and Parker after his first sponge bath ready for a diaper and clothes

LOVE this one in black and white while he gets dressed in his Christmas reindeer pajamas

Parker feeling much better with warm clothes on and with his pacifer

Pareker the sweet Santa Baby...best Christmas gift ever, that is all I wanted was a nephew healthy and happy so it looks like Santa has been good to me this year!

Parker the reindeer...so so precious

I love these, it just makes my heart smile watching Jake hold a sweet little newborn baby

Parker cuddled on his chest and slept there for awhile, it was so sweet!

LOVE this black and white one of him sleeping, I mean how could you EVER get tired of looking at this precious face!!?

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-12-09T13:06:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving 2011 was supposed to be a little different with the Ellison/Manges/Nassar gang doing it all at Matt & Jenna's house this year because of baby M's arrival date and such. But it ended up being just the same as every other year with all of us going to Nana & Papa's house with the whole big gang of my family. It was a fun day, lots of delicious food that I really shouldn't have eaten but yet I still did. We pretty much just hung out all day with family, eating, cleaning up, enjoying dessert, watching how precious all the kids are, talking about the upcoming new arrival, and watching all the football games.Among all the different football games that were on tv this year our teams definitely did great and WON all the big games! The two biggest games for us are always on Thanksgiving Day, with University of Texas vs. Texas A&M (huge rivalry if you aren't a fan) and with A&M leaving to go to the SEC that was their last big rivalry game for Thanksgiving Day, so it was definitely a game for the history books and boy was it ever! Then we of course had Dallas Cowboys vs. Miami Dolphins which was such a good game! Our family somehow has ended up getting divided through the years with one half of the big hang hating the cowboys and the other half LOVING them. And as for UT & A&M most of the family hates UT except the Ellison/Nassar gang and I'm sure you know who won :) Anyways it was a fun day all in all!

Here is the kids Thanksgiving table eating and playing- Ben, Elijah, Adley Ann, & Eli

More kid fun

Last picture of Thanksgiving kid fun, but notice in every one of these three pictures one of these crazy boys is acting so WILD, oh boys!!

Here is a picture of our Thanksgiving centerpieces this year, they did a tall clear vase with nuts in the bottom of the vase and tree branches coming out of the top with paper leaves tied to the branches with twine. During the week of Thanksgiving my aunt Bonny mailed out these paper leaves to everyone so we could all write what we are thankful for and then we all brought it with us to Thanksgiving Day and tied it to the tree branches on the centerpiece so we could all read them during the meal. It was really a neat idea, some were very sweet and special while others were pretty funny!

And here are the black friday shoppers looking through all the different shopping ads that came in the paper that day! They were getting ready for the hardcore Christmas shopping that was about to happen.

Here is the kids craft table making their traditional Christmas crafts to hang on the Christmas tree, a fun tradition we have always had in our family, I remember doing this as a kid!

Here are the red and green felt mice that they made with a candy cane...so festive and cute!

Along with all the Thanksgiving celebrations, we also had a few birthdays left to celebrate in November...so here is my cousin Autumn and my mom blowing out their candles on their birthday cake as we all sing to them! It was another fun, Thanksgiving day spent with family being reminded of how much we have to be thankful for!

November Abilene Trip

2011-12-08T17:37:00.001-08:00

So the week before Thanksgiving Jake & I went to Abilene for a visit since he had four long days off and it was such a great relaxing, enjoyable trip! Jake was able to stay from Thursday till Sunday and I stayed the rest of the week that week and rode back to Houston with my parents on Wednesday before Thanksgiving. It was so nice to get to have a long, relaxing week in Abilene to hang out with my parents and especially with the Trammells, that definitely NEVER gets old! We were also able to be there on my Mom's birthday and get to celebrate with her which was special. We also were able to have a nice lunch with Jake's dad when we got into town which was nice since we aren't going to be able to see him during the holidays at all this year with Jake's work schedule and us being six hours away from Abilene. Everytime I go back and visit Abilene I realize how much I miss it and love it there but I am certainly growing to love living in Katy more and more everyday. Here are a bunch of pictures I took during the week I was there, it was definitely a trip worth while and there is nothing like getting to see these sweet girls!

My mom's birthday celebration dinner & dessert with the Trammells. We grilled the biggest steaks I have yet to see after 25 years living in Texas and had asparagus, salad, and potato casserole. Jake baked an absolutely delicious carrot cake with homemade cream cheese icing, since this is my mom's favorite kind of cake. As you can tell from the picture above the girls thoroughly enjoyed getting to celebrate Kathy's birthday with a cake, candles, and singing happy birthday, it really was too sweet! Sorry the picture is so dark I think we had the lights turned out, but I did my best to edit the lighting, I still think this picture was so sweet.

Sweet baby Elizabeth, I love the black and white coloring here.

She was in such a happy mood, she had just woken up from a good nap and was so happy and excited!

Another cute black and white of the cutest two year old I know.

I LOVE THIS ONE...I think I might have to frame it, sweetest smile I know!

While she was still in her bed after her nap I took some pictures of her since she usually plays around in her bed for a few minutes before wanting to actually get out of her bed.

I think she was still "waking up" in this picture, looks as if she is doing a big stretch here.

Elizabeth playing Peek-A-Boo

Elizabeth being happy and silly after waking up from her nap

sweet baby just woken up from her long nap

This particular afternoon while Elizabeth was sleeping Claire and I played in her room. She wanted so bad to try on a bunch of her dresses in her closet and have me take her picture in them while she played and danced around. She is the funniest, girly girl, who LOVES to dance and always loves her dresses, actually won't wear anything else besides leggings and dresses and sometimes skirts, you can definitely forget pants haha! This picture above is pretty much the definition of Claire Louise Trammell and I LOVE it!!

This is her in her Christmas dress, sweetest smile!

Doing her ballet dances and positions in her Christmas dress, LOVE this girl's curls SO MUCH!

One day when Elizabeth was out with Jake & I to eat lunch with a friend she was doing these cute little poses in the backseat.

Claire & I on Kathy's Birthday dinner celebration night

Maggie, Claire, & I after dinner- not sure there are cuter, sweeter girls in this world than these two, miss them so much!

Claire & Elizabeth at our nail painting party, they had so much fun and ended up with cute, colorful nails!

Family Birthday Parties

2011-12-08T16:33:00.001-08:00

Finally back to regular blogging about stuff going on around here so I'm going to start with the beginning of November and work my way to the most recent events in our life! So back at the beginning of November Jake & I headed over with my sister and brother in law to our October family birthday parties, we celebrated Aunt Joyce, Jeff, Alison, me, Hannah, Aunt Monica, Beth, and Amelia. Sorry what can I say I have a VERY LARGE family, lots of people to celebrate! We headed over to have lunch with everyone, which was yummy as always, we enjoyed grilled chicken, brisket, salad, and baked potatoes with all sorts of cupcakes, birthday cake, and brownies and ice cream for dessert. It was a fun day all in all, it is always so good to catch up with all my family that only live about two hours from our house, but life is so busy that we never get the chance to just go hang out! I received lots of cute things for my birthday from my very generous family which I am so grateful for! I took a few pictures that day, not too many but here a couple of cute ones.

Ben & Amelia as we sing Happy Birthday to Amelia as Ben assists! I thought this was such a sweet picture of them together.

Aunt Joyce getting ready to blow out her candles as we sing to her as Ben, Elijah, and Eli help.

I think we were singing to Beth & I in this picture, sometimes its hard to tell haha. I always love these kind of pictures when you can tell how much fun everyone is having at parties and such, but no one is looking at the camera. I know years from now we will look at this picture and look back saying how young everyone looks and probably be trying to figure out what year it was and stuff and all of our ages haha!

Here is sweet little Adley Ann enjoying her cupcake on top of the table with Aunt Bay, so sad that she broke her arm and had to have a cast at such a young age!

Last Vacation Post I Promise...Fun in Vermont!

2011-11-28T19:06:00.001-08:00

Yes, this is the very last vacation post of course until our next fun vacation, which hopefully won't be too long haha! This one is all about our fun times in Vermont, although we were there the shortest amount of time, it was alot of fun! We absolutely loved where we stayed while we were in Vermont, it was an old bed and breakfast, called The Old Stagecoach Inn, it was so different from what we normally do, so it was really fun! We did a few different tours which was also fun, enjoyed seeing some really beautiful nature areas in Vermont and had some really fun times together as our entire vacations was slowly winding down to a close! While we were in Vermont we were able to go to the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory and see everything there, go on the ice cream tour and able to watch them while they made Cheesecake Brownie ice cream and taste a different flavor at the end of the tour. We also got to go on the Cabot Creamery Cheese Factory tour and able to taste all different kinds of cheeses and other specialty items, we even bought a few home that we really loved! We did alot of discovering of Vermont and saw that it was so much more of a dairy and agricultural state than either Maine or New Hampshire so the scenery and things to do there were alot different, but definitely still a fun visit!

Here is the sign outside of our bed & breakfast where we stayed in Vermont

Here is the cute, colorful clock outside of the Ben & Jerry's entrance

Here is the big green Ben & Jerry's Cowmobile that is outside of Ben & Jerry's

And here is the flavor graveyard in the back at Ben & Jerry's. This is where all the flavors that don't do well get taken to and every once in awhile they will resurrect a few of the flavors so that was fun to see which flavors people didn't like.

Here is a picture of the big dairy towers at the Cabot Creamery factory we went to.

And here is the Visitors Center at Cabot Creamery, so much delicious cheese to choose from!

Here is a picture of the front of our bed and breakfast, I LOVED that it was purple!

Here is a closer view of the front porch of the bed and breakfast in Vermont.

I thought the capital building in Vermont was just outstandingly beautiful, I just loved it. It is in Montpelier, Vermont and is surrounded by beautiful trees and other gorgeous landscaping and with the fall colors I just couldn't get enough of how pretty it was. It has this amazing gold top with this little statue of a man on the very top that looks like a steeple if you don't look real closely!

Jake & Aunt Sally standing on the Quechee Gorge in Vermont

Sorry for the squinting look on my face, it was very sunny that day. But this was outside of Cabot Creamery, Jake made me pose in the cow model since I was SO excited about tasting all the delicious cheeses at Cabot!

Here is Jake & I in front of the Ben & Jerry's Cow Mobile

And here we are as "Ben & Jerry" on the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough lid

Another beautiful building with gorgeous trees in downtown Montpelier, Vermont

Here is the front of our bed and breakfast

Jake & I outside of the bed and breakfast on our last day in Vermont!

Here I am kneeling next to a flavor that sounded good to me, anything Italian, especially cannolis I can never pass up, definitely the heritage, but too bad the holy cannoli flavor was buried in the flavor graveyard.

This is the beautiful view of the Quechee Gorge in Vermont, it was honestly breathtaking!

This was the rightside view of our bed and breakfast, I thought it had such a cool view with the tall red brick chimney against the tall purple house.

The front entrance of Ben & Jerry's

New England Fall Colors

2011-11-16T15:21:00.001-08:00

I decided I wanted to post a few pictures of the breathtaking fall colors that we got to see and experience up in the New England area, which is something we don't get to see down south for the most part. Most of the really colorful leaves we saw in New Hampshire, everything was starting to change around Boston, but it was nothing near what we got to see around New Hampshire. In Vermont things were changing, but it much more of a farm/agriculture state than New Hampshire was. I definitely noticed alot more green while we were in Vermont than anywhere else. As far as fall colors go New Hampshire definitely was the best. So here were my favorite pictures of the beauty of fall on our trip. A couple of these are definitely framers!

This one was taken while in New Hampshire on our train ride, I loved the rocks and water mixed with gorgeous orange and yellow colors here!

Also while driving around discovering New Hampshire we found several perfect photo opportunities that were truly just pathways of beauty with the tall trees surrounding it with orange and yellow leaves everywhere. It really is indescribeable up there this time of year!

This was another one taken in New Hampshire

I absolutely LOVED this picture of the concrete steps with the orange and red colored leaves covering it.

These huge trees were literally EVERYWHERE in Maine and New Hampshire, so I don't really remember where this picture was taken exactly. Everytime we saw one of these it made me think of Christmas time so much, they were so pretty!

This one was of a perfectly orangish-red tree in front of a cute, old white church in New Hampshire, it was just too pretty and perfect for words.

This golden fall view was taken across the street from Polly's Pancake Parlor in New Hampshire, so perfect with the fall colors and mountains in the background.

I LOVED this area of Vermont so much, this was in Montpelier, the capital of Vermont right next door to the capital building which was so gorgeous by the way!

LOVE this way taken looking up into the sky and sunlight, love the yellow leaves.

New Hampshire trees and leaves in the fall

Another mountain view in New Hampshire

And lastly a mini waterfall view from our trainride in New Hampshire

Fun in New Hampshire Part One

2011-11-12T10:38:00.001-08:00

Here is part one in all of our fun times in New Hampshire, both Jake & I really loved New Hampshire although it was totally different than Maine, it was really fun and so BEAUTIFUL in a different way! We got to experience lots of different things while we were there from mountains to a different kind of water than we saw in Maine and also a train ride and so much gorgeous fall colors and really cool covered bridges and yummy local food. I decided to do this first post about New Hampshire with all of our pictures of us at different places and locations and such. And part two of the New Hampshire post is going to be all about the fall colors and beautiful trees and such. We took so many pictures of all the pretty trees and leaves and the beautiful atmosphere we got to experience in New Hampshire so I am going to do all that kind of stuff in the next post. There are just far too many pictures to post in one post, sorry!

Aunt Sally & I at one of the National Parks in New Hampshire, it was so beautiful.

Aunt Sally & I on the train ride before we starting rolling on our way through the mountains of New Hampshire.

Aunt Sally, Jake, & I in New Hampshire with the mountains and gorgeous colors all behind us.

While we there we saw these signs everywhere, they were pretty serious about this moose thing. Jake & I wanted to see a moose somewhere so bad, but it never happened so sad :( oh well...

Here is the Conway Scenic Railroad that we road on through the mountains in New Hampshire

These are the actual cars we rode in on the train

I LOVED all of the cool covered bridges we got to see in New Hampshire. This particular one was in Jackson, New Hampshire, everything around it was completely beautiful, feels like you are in a movie, reminded me of one of my favorites, Baby Boom. There was water beneath and such pretty trees and fall colors everywhere around it, it was just PERFECT!

This was our lunch train stop in Crawford, New Hampshire, it was very cold that day as we sat outside to eat our lunch and admire the scenery.

This neat little landscaping thing was in Jackson, New Hampshire near the covered bridge on a center median thing, it was so creative and cool. It was very obvious that they really go all out for the different seasons up in New England, even for road decor haha, we don't have that here in the south, I LOVED IT up there!

LOVE this perfect picture of the train coming toward us, this is where they let us get out before we stopped for lunch and stretch our legs and get some good pictures of the train and all the pretty scenery we were surrounded by. While we were all doing that they would back the train up and come toward to pick us up so we could see the train backing up and then see from the front coming toward us, it was so neat to see since neither of us had ever ridden on a real train like this!

Jake & I standing in front of the covered bridge in Jackson, New Hampshire

Jake & I in a random spot we found that was SO PERFECT for good pictures, it had the greatest yellow leaves with birch trees everywhere, it was just gorgeous we had to stop and get some good pictures!

Jake & I outside one of the visitors centers we stopped at in New Hampshire to look at the mountain view with all the pretty trees and fall colors and take some great pictures!

Another great photo opportunity, this one particular spot had alot of oranges and reds. It really was neat to get to see and experience all the different colors from state to state and even all the different we went seemed to have a different range of colors and leaves.

This is me while we were at the visitors center in New Hampshire to take pictures and look at the great views, it was such an awesome view through those viewfinders, cannot even explain the beauty!

Jake taking my picture on this rock with all the leaves around it

This was outside Polly's Pancake Parlor which was an old place that made any pancake, made to order, from regular to pecan to coconut to chocolate chip, really any kind of pancake. I loved it so much, I love pancakes, but they had this cute little horse outside of the restaurant so I took my picture on it haha.

This sign was for a lodging place that I just thought was neat looking, it looked very christmas like with the horse and the sleigh, I just had to take a picture of it.

Sorry about this car in the picture, but I have such a love for old, white churches like this and they were EVERYWHERE up in new england, I wanted to get out and take pictures of every single I saw, but I refrained. This particular one was in New Hampshire and I took this picture from the car with the window down so that is why the car is in the picture, I wasn't able to get around it.

Here is the sign out front at Polly's Pancake Parlor with gorgeous scenery surrounding it of course...

And this is the actual restaurant of Polly's Pancake Parlor, it was so old and neat in the inside.

This was the entrance sign of the resort that we stayed at in New Hampshire, it was a really neat area, very secluded, near the mountains, it really felt like you were the only one staying there!

This was taken when we were off of the train stretching our legs and taking pictures of all the scenery while they backed up the train and we were able to get a good picture of the back of the train with the conductor waving, SO NEAT!!

The Last of Our Maine Adventures

2011-11-10T11:39:00.001-08:00

So this is the very last post of our adventures in Maine and it has quite a few pictures, sorry I was trying to squeeze the last of everything into one post. But of course there is stuff that is still left out of this post, like my first bowl ever of new england clam chowder which might I say is AMAZING!! There were just LOTS of yummy restaurants we went to that I forgot to take pictures of, but we had awesome seafood, good italian once, and some really great local homestyle cooking at a few restaurants and we LOVED it all!! But here are all the pictures of the last of our Maine adventures, enjoy!

Here is the vacation home of our former president, George W. Bush. This is the part of their home where the secret service crew stays when people are there.

This is the family vacation home where they stay, it looks so gorgeous right!?

And here are Jake & I's "Larry the lobsters" getting ready to be boiled so we can enjoy their meat and my were they delicious!!

Here is my "Larry the lobster" after he had been dismantled and eaten I tried putting him back together so I could get a picture of him because I forgot to do that before probably out of excitement!

Me with my lobster bib, ready to enjoy Larry!

Jake "wearing" the lobster claws, so silly, but I love him so much, he is so much fun!

Jake with his lobster bib on, ready to enjoy!

Jake & I after our first ever fresh lobster experience and we LOVED it!

The experienced Aunt Sally with her lobster bib ready to dig in!

The sign at the restaurant of first lobster experience in Ogunquit, Maine

The tank full of lobster ready to picked and boiled and eaten.

While driving around the Kennebunkport area of Maine we saw these wild turkeys playing in the water in front of this random house and I thought it would be a cool picture.

I love this seagull picture, it was taken while we were in Glochester, Maine. I think it makes the perfect coastal picture the way the seagull is perfectly posing on this rock with the ocean behind it.

I thought the rusty, green coloring of this old anchor was great, this was also in the Glochester area of Maine where there is a fantastic fishermens memorial.

Jake looking out onto the ocean in Glochester, Maine through the viewfinders

Jake & I standing next to one of the fisherman memorial plaques in Glochester, Maine

Jake & I down on the beach in Glochester, Maine

Jake & Aunt Sally next to one of the fisherman memorial statues in Glochester, Maine

I love gazebos so much and they were everywhere in the new england area, but I thought this one was so great with the ocean in the background and with the American flag flying right next to it.

Here is the fisherman's memorial compass engraved in the concrete sidewalk in the Glochester area of Maine.

I thought this was such a sweet memorial statue of the wives and children of the fishermen who were lost out at sea.

I loved this fishermen memorial statue in Glochester, Maine, I just loved the greenish coloring it had.

This was just a cool black anchor we found leaning up against someone's house that we randomly passed on the side of the road and I just thought it would be really cool to have a picture of it.

Aunt Sally & I standing next to one of the fishermens memorial plaques.

I thought all of these memorial plaques were so neat, they have each fishermen's name who was lost out at sea on them. If you are ever in the Glochester area of Maine this is a really neat place to visit.

Coming up next....our adventures in New Hampshire!!

Our Maine Adventures Part 2

2011-11-07T14:32:00.000-08:00

Here is part two of our Main adventures, this is the day we had the roughest of the weather but it was still great, we LOVED seeing all of the lighthouse stuff! The day we went out to see this lighthouse it was cold, rainy, very windy, but definitely what you would expect the east coast in Maine to feel like on a cold fall or winter day. But luckily it wasn't pouring down raining or anything, just a kinda heavy rain but very windy and misty. We both have pretty much agreed that out of all the states we visited we loved Maine the best, it just fit our personalities best, New Hampshire was very very close though! But here are the pictures from our lighthouse day in Maine, hope you enjoy :)

Here is Aunt Sally & I looking out the viewfinders with the lighthouse behind us

And here is USLHS 1926 bell near the lighthouse, it was really neat.

Jake & I standing in front of the water and lighthouse area

Such a cool place to visit, I just LOVE lighthouses so much. It really was the most perfect scenery ever with all the white on the lighthouses, the big rocks everywhere, and the gorgeous water around everything. I kept saying while we there looking and taking pictures of everything how I felt like we should be on the movie, Message in a Bottle with Kevin Costner haha, that is exactly what it felt like to me.

And this neat little rust colored lighthouse was near the memorial plaque which was really neat to see and read about.

This is the lighthouse memorial plaque

And here is Jake being silly taking a fun picture with the buoy that we found laying around on the big rocks near the water. I just love everything about him and his fun personality, vacations are so fun with him!! :)

As you can tell the water was so so rough that day, but it made for such great moments and pictures with it crashing against all the big rocks, I loved the sound of hearing it crash, we love the ocean so much!

And I loved getting to take pictures of the cute seagulls sitting on these big rocks. I think this is such a perfect picture with the rocks, water, boats, seagulls, and I love how you can tell how it was such a cold and overcast day.

And the last of our Maine adventures is coming up next...

Our Maine Adventures Part 1

2011-11-05T13:40:00.000-07:00

After my first VERY LONG vacation post the other day I decided to break each different state we visited into two different posts because we just did SO MUCH stuff and have way too many pictures to put in just a single post. So here is part one post of our Maine adventures, the first one is about where we stayed and the scenery around it mainly. We stayed in Ogunquit, Maine which was such a cute, little, lobster town in Maine and we absolutely LOVED the place we stayed at, it was our favorite! We stayed at a resort inn called The Anchorage Inn & Resort and it was so neat because it was literally right on the beautiful beach when we walked outside our room! The first day we were there we walked around the whole resort and some of the beach area and just discovered everything and took lots of pictures, but it instantly reminded me of the place that stay at on vacation on the movie, Dirty Dancing, so that was fun! All the pictures below are of our resort we stayed, the scenery around our resort, and the very cute fall decorations around our resort. I hope you enjoy!

This is the back part of our resort, which just happened to me right next to our room, which was so convenient. And sitting out in these lawn chairs looked out onto a gorgeous Maine beach, the view was amazing!

Here are a few pictures of the cute Angry Birds pumpkin display at our resort entrance which we thought was too hilarious for words!

Here are a few more of the different, little Angry Birds in the display, it was done very well!

This is a picture of the entrance when you drove into the resort, to say the least these are the BIGGEST pumpkins Jake or I had ever seen. All of the fall decorations around the resort were so cute and festive, pumpkins of all shapes, sizes, and colors, scarecrows, and so much more to get you in the fall mood!

Here is a cute picture of Jake & his Aunt Sally standing in front of the huge pumpkins at the entry.

This is Jake & I standing in front of the main entrance to the lobby at the resort all decorated for fall with great harvest landscaping and pumpkins of course!

This picture above is on of the days when it actually wasn't rainy and overcast while we were in Maine. This was also taken right outside of our room on the gorgeous sunny day, so pretty!

And this last one was of the Maine beach when it was rainy and overcast, but it was so neat getting to see the Maine beaches these two different ways, but equally as pretty! I love the rocky beaches, it was really fun for us because we have only ever seen Florida, Texas, Carribean, and Mexico beaches which look SO different from the rocky ones we saw in Maine so that was really cool for us!

More Maine adventures coming up....

New England Vacation Day 1

2011-11-01T16:47:00.000-07:00

About two weeks ago we finally made our long anticipated fall trip we had been planning since last year to visit Jake's Aunt Sally who lives in Boston, Massachusetts. We had an amazing trip, such a great trip that really rejuvenated both of us and was so good getting to spend some good time with family. These next few posts will be ALL about our vacation, there will be lots of pictures, if you go through picture overload blame it on me haha! But trust the pictures DO NOT even do it justice with how much fun we had, how much we got to see, and especially how completely GORGEOUS everything is up there!

So Jake & I left Katy Monday late afternoon when he got off work and headed to Abilene to drop Emmitt off since my parents were so great to watch him for the week and a half we were going to be gone. And I was so thankful we got a special treat in Tuesday morning we left to drive to Dallas for to catch our plane at the airport. Before we got on the road to Dallas we were able to surprise my sweet three Trammell girls at their school that morning and LOVED every little moment of it even though we only got to hang out with them for about 30 minutes before having to leave! We caught our flight in Dallas Tuesday about lunch time and flew all day between all the changing flights we had to do, but trust me it was ALL worth it once we got to Boston! We got to Boston about 8:30 that night and were SO HAPPY to finally be there after all the traveling, planning, and everything that went in to this trip! As soon as Aunt Sally picked us up from the airport we headed to get a late bite to eat at a local place called Ninety-Nine, very home like, cozy, warm, and the food was great! We headed back to her apartment after dinner and dessert and got all set up there and then just had a cup of coffee and hung up talking and such.

The next day was our first day in Boston so we spent the day in downtown Boston. We ate at Jake's favorite restaurant in the Boston Prudential Shopping building, P.F. Changs and also did some browsing and shopping there. We walked all around downtown and went into the Prudential Gardens and took some pictures and were just taking everything in. Our first day in Boston was definitely so memorable and fun, we did the Boston duck boat tours through all of downtown and in the Charles River. We loved the duck boat tour, we got to see SO much, alot of which we wouldn't have gotten to see if we hadn't done it and loved how it drove all through Boston downtown seeing everything and giving you all the historical info on everything, but also drove the duck boat into the Charles River which was so cool! After we were done with the duck boat tour we did alot of walking just looking at stuff by ourselves through the Boston Public Gardens and just all the neat downtown sidewalks and looking at all the buildings and such. We took SO many pictures but I would say city life and downtown areas are one of my very favorite subjects to take pictures of so we loved it!

The historical cemeteries in downtown Boston, very beautiful! Although these are all along the sides of the busy downtown streets of Boston, they still seem so sacred and special, I thought the fencng was so gorgeous!

LOVED this tall, mirrored, glass building in downtown Boston, but I have no idea what building this was or what reason it was there for at all, I just loved the look and design of it!

Here is a picture of Emerson College in downtown Boston

Now this was a great looking fire department, I loved the building structure of everything in downtown Boston. I'm not sure where I got the obsession but I love to see all the different fire and police departments in the various cities we visit, they are all so different and unique, I just love it!

Here is a picture of one of the entrances of The Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers...very fancy!

When you step outside the Boston Prudential Shoppping Mall they the beautiful Prudential Gardens with these great cobblestone sidewalks and these gorgeous black fountains and it all looks out onto the downtown buildings!

Here is the Boston Public Gardens sign as you enter the gardens...best public garden I have ever been to for sure!

Another Public Gardens sign as you enter, this one hung on the beautiful black iron fencing that goes all around the entire garden.

Here is the pond in the Public Garden area that has ducks and swans swimming it. I love how this picture has the gorgeous trees behind it, but also the tall downtown buildings of Boston.

While on the Charles River here is the bridge we went under and part of the Boston skyline in the background.

Another great brick building structure, the buildings in this downtown area are phenomenal, I just loved them all!

This is a brick tower that is in the Charles River, I thought it was so cool, the detailed design that is in the bricks, very unique!

In my opinion perfect picture of downtown Boston with the TD Garden, Zakim Bridge, tall buildings, and some traffic...love this picture!

Such great detail on this building if you look closely.

Another great skyline picture of Boston, with the Charles River, beautiful trees, and all the downtown buildings in the background.

Another thing I LOVE is street signs, old or new. This was in the North End of Boston where historically all of the mob activity happened and still does to a certain degree. The North End is also where majority of the Italian immigrants or Italian-American families live today in Boston and where there are the greatest Italian restaurants in the city. Literally as we drove through the North End in our duck boat while we were on the tour you could smell the Italian, pizza, pasta, olive oil, cheese, and anything else you can dream of. If you really know me you know I was DROOLING!!!

The old churches in Boston are so undescribeable, just SO BEAUTIFUL! I love churches that are physically beautiful as far as the building. The brick and windows on this one are so amazing to me.

I thought this building was so cool, how the top of it has this old clock with the eagle at the very top watching everything.

A closer picture of the brick tower that is in the Charles River that has such cool detail.

Another one of my favorite pictures from our day in downtown Boston, I just love how you get the mix of brick buildings, lights, people, traffic lights, and beautiful landscaping...pretty much sums up downtown Boston to me!

You can tell in this picture how it is starting to get dark because all the lights are really starting to show and the buildings are start to have that night reflecting look on them.

LOVED the shape of this building

GREAT downtown Boston picture, this might be a framer for my traveling collection.

LOVE this red brick building with the cute little windows and this great old, black street light pole.

LOVE this picture also, great mixture of things...I LOVE THE CITY!

This was in the Boston Public Gardens, they have this row of copper ducks, they are so cool. It was the cutest thing ever to see all the little kids playing and having their picture taken on them. They also have a copper tortis and hare, but we didn't walk over to see them, so I don't have a picture of those.

This is a picture of what the duck boats that we did our tour on look like when they go in the Charles River, it is very cool!

I love this picture of the Fairmount Copley Hotel in downtown Boston, I love how old it looks with all the gold, red, and just how old the building looks. There are many, many famous people historically who have stayed in this hotel through the years, many United States Presidents. I love the lanterns on either sign on the red sign.

This was a cool fish statue that was also in the Boston Public Gardens.

Here is a picture looking far away across the pond in the Boston Public Gardens, you can see the little bridge across the way, it was very cute!

Another great downtown shot, great sign for a parking garage in downtown Boston.

The beautiful gate entrance to the Boston Public Gardens, I thought it kinda looked like you were entering some sort of mansion like place.

A close up picture of the Grand Lodge of Masons In Massachusetts...very cool building.

One of the most special, sacred, cool places in downtown Boston we saw in my opinion at least. This is the Holocaust Memorial in downtown Boston, there are five of these tall, glass towers all framed in silver to represent all the people who lost their lives in the Holocaust.

This was down by the Port of Boston area in downtown, picture of the Independent Wharf building.

This was in our duck boat getting ready to leave on our tour, Aunt Sally & I.

LOVE LOVE this picture, I thought this bridge and light pole was so cool and just love all the beautiful trees and buildings in the background and Jake just happened to be standing there like that haha I actually didn't even notice that until I started to edit the pictures.

Here is Loews Theatre in the Theatre District area of downtown Boston,

Yes, I was OBSESSED with all of the brownstone apartment like places they had all over downtown Boston.

LOVE this picture also, I love seeing beautiful ivy growing on brick buildings like this, I think this red brick with pretty green ivy looks so cool!

I just thought this particular building or church had such a great steeple that I just had to take a picture of it.

I just loved the mirrored buildings that were all over the place, love how you can see the reflection of everything on the other side of the street.

Here is a picture of the New England School of Law building

LOVE this one, I think it is a really cool picture from the view it was taken and the clouds make it look great in the background. Not to mention how awesome of a church building this is, cannot imagine how old this building is!

Here is another view of it

Fancy Omni Parker House in downtwon Boston

Here is a picture of the many, many Dunkin Donuts that exist ALL over Boston and all the states we visited. In the south we have Starbucks on every block, well in New England they do Dunkin Donuts.

Here is the front pretty view and entrance of the Boston Park Plaza Hotel

While on the duck boats they showed us the Charles River Sailboat school where kids can come and learn how to sail for free, I thought it was so neat!

pretty orange roses in the Boston Public Gardens

LOVE this pink rose in the Boston Public Gardens

Here is the Samuel Adams statue in downtown Boston with the Samuel Adams museum/building behind it.

The only Starbucks Coffee I saw in downtown Boston with the gold teapot.

LOVE this picture of downtown Boston street sign on this cool light pole.

Seeing that Boston is all Irish and such I thought this was a cool pub, Sullivan's Pub.

The swans in the pond in the Boston Public Gardens, we were lucky we got to see them because when it starts to get real cold they get taken out and don't come back to the gardens to swim in the pond until spring time.

Tall, tall building as night approaches in downtown Boston

Best picture I could get of TD Garden but there it is

This has been nicknamed "The Dolphin" because of how it has gotten its shape through all the years, this was while we were on the duck boat on the Charles River.

A bar in downtown called the Red Hat that we thought was cool.

"Welcome to Massachusetts" sign, we took a state sign in every state, except never found one when we drove into Vermont.

The famous Zakim Bridge in Boston, such a awesome bridge, just the whole design and structure of this bridge is really amazing if you think about it!

Stay tuned for Day 2 about our Maine Adventures!! :)

Jeff & Rachel's Wedding

2011-10-29T21:25:00.000-07:00

Last weekend one of our good friends from ACU was getting married in the Kingwood/Humble area of Houston and we got dressed up, went out, and celebrated their wedding with them! It was really nice getting to be a part of a wedding as a guest being able to sit in the audience and not be part of the wedding crew which is something I am VERY used to, I seem to always be a bridesmaid or just a significant crew member who is very involved in all the behind the scenes stuff so this was nice! But it was even better to be able to see old friends from college and get to catch up and hang out with them and see where life has taken everyone, Jake & I both really enjoyed getting to do that! The wedding was a vintage/1950s inspired wedding so the style of everything was very different than any wedding I had ever been to for the most part. If you know me you know that is my most favorite part of any wedding or event but especially wedding to notice the style of the wedding and all the decorations and the little details of everything. I guess because of growing up in a large family and us always having someone getting married it sometimes feels like I have seen it all when it comes to weddings and I just love noticing and figuring everything that goes into wedding celebrations out!

This wedding was outside at a country club and the weather this particular evening was absolutely perfect, aside from the mosquitoes it was great! It was a pretty small wedding and for the ceremony everyone just sat in the little white chairs with the white laterns lining the center aisle, which added a cute little touch to the small outdoor celebration. Most of our friends were groomsmen in the wedding so it was neat getting to watch them be a part of the wedding ceremony. We tried taking as many pictures as we could but as it got closer to dark the lack of lighting was interfering plus we were trying not to look like the papparazzi flashing pictures all during the ceremony. But enjoy the pictures we were able to get!

All the groomsmen standing at the front as the ceremony continues on...

Sorry some of these got a little out of order, but I thought this one was so cute, Jeff & Rachel walking down the aisle together as MARRIED COUPLE....Mr. & Mrs. Jeff Paxton

The flower girl and ring bearer walking back as the wedding ends.

Chase and his bridesmaid escort walking back down the aisle.

Mike and his bridesmaid escort walking back down the aisle.

Brian and his bridesmaid escort walking back down the aisle.

Matt and his bridesmaid escort walking back down the aisle.

Here are some of the tables all set up and decorated while everyone mingled before the reception officially started. They had some long tables and some round ones, all were covered with white table cloths and cute teal table runners on them along with the red candlesticks in glass candleholders, with red flower centerpieces, with our table numbers and place cards. They also had these really cute teal and red laterns hung all around the patio area where the reception took place along with the cute outdoor lights that were strung around the patio area. All of the food, cake, and drinks was all inside.

Cute picture of our friends Corey and Rachel

Here is a fun picture of our friends Blythe, Marshall, and Josh.

Here is a closer look at the table set up and center pieces.

Here is the groom, Jeff standing next to the cake table inside before they started cutting the cakes.

At the cake table they had one tiered wedding cake that was teal and red to go along with everything that was flavored red velvet with a white wedding cake topper and also had an old school style white, sheet cake with a big red "P" initial for their new last name. Also on the cake table they had a few old family wedding pictures of their parents and such.

The bride and groom feeding each other the cake, although Jeff has his mouth wide open, they were both nice to each other while doing this and didn't make a mess of it which is always good!

Here is a fun picture of Chase and Jordan while everyone was waiting on the cake to be cut and passed out.

The bride as she is about to toss her bouquet to a special single lady!

The groom as he looks for the garter.

And here is the groom ready to toss the garter away to one of the single men.

And as I said the wedding was 1950s inspired, the bride and groom left in a 1957 Chevy that the bride's parents had restored for her as her wedding gift, it was all pink and white.

The bride and groom making their exit through all the bubbles to get in their car.

Congrats Mr. & Mrs. Jeff Paxton!

A special little touch all the guys added to their 57' Chevy, gotta have all those coke cans tied to the back.

Red River Shootout

2011-10-08T10:12:00.000-07:00

Today is a big Saturday in our house along with trying to get packed and everything ready around here since we are leaving for Abilene on Monday to take Emmitt to my parents and leaving for Boston on Tuesday from DFW. But along with everything we have to do to get ready today is a big day in football for our house with Red River Shootout from Cowboy Stadium and a big SEC game this afternoon of LSU Tigers vs. Florida Gators in Death Valley. As we get into the Texas/OU game I realize it is going to be a fight, but we are playing some great defense, especially for such a young team of almost all freshman. Right now Oklahoma is ranked #3 while Texas is #11 so it is a big game for either team, but so far each team is really playing well, I am really feeling an upset hoping that Texas wins, but we will see how it all plays out!

The top picture OU vs. Texas I love because you can vividly see all the burnt orange and maroon in the whole stadium and I LOVE IT!

Here they are ready to play... LSU Tigers vs. Florida Gators, LSU is ranked #1 right now, while Florida is ranked #17, both teams bringing something challenging to the table, but LSU is downright amazing if you ask me. While Florida has got some great speed so we will see what happens, they are playing in Death Valley so who knows what will happen!

Baby Shower Weekend

2011-10-07T20:05:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was a sweet baby-filled weekend and I LOVED EVERY SINGLE MINUTE OF IT! My mom was able to come in town from Abilene on late Friday night to spend the weekend with all of us but really to go to both of my sister's baby showers, we had a family one in Beaumont on Saturday morning and then one at my sister's church on Sunday afternoon. The weekend started early Saturday morning when my mom and sister picked me up so we could head out to Beaumont for the first baby shower of the weekend. And other than getting to be around all baby stuff and feeling like this little nephew or niece is finally going to arrive sooner than later was so exciting. It was also just so wonderful for my soul to get to see and spend some time with all of my family that live in Beaumont. I had not gotten to see most of them since late June or while I was in Methodist Hospital in July and so much have changed since then thankfully! It just felt so so good to finally get to catch up with all of my aunts, cousins, and grandparents I miss all of them and so wish I was able to drive so that I could see them more! My sister and sweet Baby Manges got some really great things at both showers, lots of good baby gear, cute gender neutral baby clothes since the gender is a surprise, tons of burp cloths, and blankets, and some diapers. I for one CANNOT WAIT to find out whether Aunt Gigi is going to have a nephew or niece, I have thought all along from the very beginning of my sister's pregnancy that it was going to be a boy but we will see in just ten weeks. I would so love a little girl to dress up everyday but I would love to have a little boy to have some fun with, I don't care either way! I am beyond excited to have this sweet baby here so I can buy and make lots of fun things, I decided to wait until I knew if it was a boy or girl to really release my creative juices, but I definitely have LOTS up my sleeve. Here are all the pictures I took on my camera at both of the baby showers, I didn't get quite as many as I wanted but I was trying to socialize, see all the cute baby stuff my sister was opening, and also take pictures with my sister's camera for her too! The first set of pictures are from the baby shower in Beaumont with my family, enjoy!

the party favors :)

sweet little boy and girl teddy bears that were as yummy as they are cute

love the boy's bow tie and the girl's little skirt...these were made by my nana & aunts

Since the theme of the baby shower was teddy bears, they did a flower arrangement on one of the tables in a animal cracker container that was a clear, plastic teddy bear that had blue hydrangeas and pink roses which was really cute!

My sweet nana and sister

Jenna & life time best friend Cortney

The guest sign in book along with a few baby pictures of Matt & Jenna with one of my mom's old bears she has always had around her house.

sweet little Jenna and Adley Ann playing on the rocking horse

Adley Ann not too easy to take picture of but still as cute as she can be.

The next morning I went to church with my mom, Jenna, & Matt since Jake had to work last Sunday. Since we went to church with them we also went to class with them and got to meet all of their good friends that go to church with which was really nice, I know alot of them prayed for me while I was going through all of my difficult health problems this spring and summer so it was really nice to put a face to the name. So after church and class we all went to a yummy mexican food place down in Sugarland and then went to a few stores while we wasted some time before it was time to go back to the church for the baby shower since their church is a little further away from our houses. While we waited, we went to Target, Dillards, drove around and looked for some other baby stores, and went to get a cup of coffee at a local coffee shop before heading back to the church for the baby shower. The baby shower at their church was put on by the women's ministry and all of her good girlfriends that they go to church with and was very cute! They had a good red velvet cake, some light appetizers, cupcakes, and a yummy punch. And for decorations they did some cute tissue paper flowers hung from the ceiling above the food tables and just around the room, also had a cute banner above the gift table that had their baby pictures hung on it and one also above guest sign in table along with a cute diaper cake. Jenna also got alot of really cute stuff at this shower, so I think the only thing this sweet little baby is going to need are clothes after it is born and we know whether it is a boy or a girl otherwise I think it is pretty much set!

This is a really bad picture because of the lighting, but here are one of the cluster of the tissue paper flowers that were hung from the ceiling above the food tables.

Here is the gift table and the banner that had Matt & Jenna's baby pictures hanging on it.

Another view of the baby picture banner

This is cute little cousin Reid playing on his ipod touch, which is actually his own ipod, he was so happy and cute the whole time during the shower.

And here is sweet little cousin Athena, she was so gorgeous, she also has a twin brother, but he stayed home with his dad.

Here is one the older women that helps out in Jenna & Matt's young married class at church that was reading Jenna a special prayer and blessing over her and the baby, it was really sweet, glad I was able to get a picture of it.

MLB Playoffs- GO YANKEES!!!

2011-10-05T15:34:00.000-07:00

Is there anything better than MLB Playoffs and the World Series? I think not...I know there are so many people out there who hate baseball and feel like it is the most boring sport ever, not sure how you can think that considering the boring sport of golf! But I also know that some people are just football people, which I totally understand, I love both sports, but cannot see past the true american sport of baseball, the history, how classy the sport and athletes are, the excitement that it brings I can assure you nothing in the world can top it! I could go on and on and on about how special this sport is but I will spare you as that would be a never ending post.

As most of you already know I have true love for New York pretty much anything and everything about it, but have LOVED The New York Yankees for a long time now and there is nothing better to see them in the playoffs, nothing at all! For the 2011-2012 season the Yankees had a great season their regular season record was 97-65, they also clinched their division series. In my opinion the best part of the season has been was Derek Jeter our Yankee captain and veteran who also plays shortstop hit his record of 3,000 hits in his baseball career which made him the 28th member of 3,000 hits club, I will never forget watching that on tv! Also Mariano Rivera who this season who claimed the all-time saves lead of 603 career saves, he is one amazing pitcher! So after we were able to clinch our division in the series against the Tampa Bay Rays we went on to the ALDS against the Detroit Tigers. We started out the series against the Detroit Tigers in New York winning the game 1 9-3, then losing game 2 5-3, then losing game 3 in Detroit 4-5, then winning in Detroit 10-1 which is forcing a rare 5th game in the series in New York since we have home field advantage from clinching our division. So as a recap THE YANKEES ARE STILL ALIVE, but obviously whoever wins tomorrow night in the Bronx takes it all and goes ahead to the ALCS and plays the Texas Rangers, which by the way we DO NOT WANT THEM TO WIN!!!

The starting pitchers for tomorrow night in game 5 is going to be Ivan Nova vs. Detroit's D. Fister I am really looking forward to the game tomorrow night in New York although I will be in Texas haha! I am definitely wishing Ivan Nova luck and all the rest of the team but I fully believe that my Yankees can get a win out of game 5 at the Bronx and go on to the ALCS to play against the Rangers, so anyone and everyone reading this CHEER ON THOSE YANKEES!!!! :)

Christmas Shopping

2011-10-05T14:51:00.000-07:00

If you know me at all you should know that all year long I look forward to two times of the year more than anything! Those two times of the year would be the month of October for many different reasons being the beginning of fall and cooler weather, the 22nd of this month since it is my birthday, I love birthdays, the start of baseball playoffs which I love, and for me it is the start of all the holiday fun! With all that being said this month I am already feeling the holiday love that I look forward to and adore so much! In fact I have actually already started my Christmas planning and shopping which always make me feel good. Even though this has been a very trying and difficult year nothing has and will change my joy of loving to celebrate the seasons and holidays and getting to celebrate another wonderful year of life!

That is what brings me to one of my favorite things at this time of the year, which is Christmas Shopping! I know there are so many people out there that truly despise Christmas, shopping, and everything that goes along with it, and then there are the people that don't even do gifts for their families at all, but it is a true LOVE of mine to give through gifts of all kinds to my family and friends, I just love it!! And I can honestly say that I put all my time, effort, and thoughts, and creativity into what I give at Christmas time and I wouldn't have it any other way. But I won't lie the way I choose to do my Christmas shopping for my friends and family does make it more difficult than just going to the mall or getting online and ordering whatever is on their list or just simply purchasing a gift card to their favorite store to shop at. But watching them open the gift I took my time and energy to make and truly think about how much they mean to me, I can promise nothing brings greater joy! So this year I have gotten some really great ideas for everyone on my list, I am no where near finished, but I definitely have a great start since we are barely into the month of October. There are still some holes in my shopping list that need to be filled but I have no doubt by Thanksgiving I will have gotten some great ideas. And what is even more exciting about this Christmas 2011 is that we have another little special family member to buy for and be creative with, sweet little baby Manges, I truly cannot wait to meet that sweet little Christmas miracle! But without a doubt the ones that are always the hardest to figure what their Christmas gift will be are the adults, mostly the men, dads & brothers haha!

I am so excited about decorating our apartment this year it really has great potential to be a true Christmas Wonderland and I cannot wait to make that happen, definitely my favorite part of the season. And since moving to Houston I am very excited about all the different Christmas stuff to do around here, I am hoping to go see The Nutcracker Ballet at the Houston Ballet, maybe driving Kemah for the lighting of the island and the events they have for Christmas, and hopefully more Christmas stuff that comes up around the area which is definitely something I love about living in the big city!

Plush Pumpkins

2011-10-03T10:55:00.000-07:00

Well it is definitely that time of the year again and I LOVE IT! Luckily we just got a great cool front that makes it really feel like fall is here and all it makes you want to do is put cute pumpkins everywhere around your house for fall decor and make lots of yummy fall treats. I just thought all these different colored plush pumpkins were too precious not to blog about, I just can't help myself but be over the moon excited that fall is here and all the holidays are upon us, starting with fall then Halloween then Thanksgiving and then I can break out my favorite decor of all! Anyways I found these adorable plush pumpkin pictures on one of my favorite home decor blogs that I read daily, www.theinspiredroom.net, ya'll should definitely check it out! I get so many great ideas for decorating my house, all different rooms, all different themes for all different seasons of the year, such creative stuff, I just think it is great! But right now they are doing a special called "31 days inspired for the holidays 2011" where they do a different special everyday that is inspired by the holidays and there are always such cute ideas!

Loving all the different colors of pumpkins

love the green pumpkin and silver bowl it is being displayed in on this side table

My favorite one of all, the blue, turquoise, and white pumpkins, so different and unique.

But I still love the traditional colored pumpkins, they never get old, orange, white, brown just looks like fall and love how they are displayed.

Looking forward to big games and family time this weekend

2011-09-30T15:32:00.000-07:00

Well it's the weekend so you know that means football so here are my weekly football pictures of who we are cheering on for this weekend. We do have a couple of big games this weekend so we are definitely looking forward to that! First we have Texas playing Iowa State tomorrow, hook em' horns; then Arkansas and Texas A&M are playing each other which is a pretty big game since it has just been announced that A&M has been officially accepted to the SEC Conference for next football season. And of course the biggest game of the weekend being Florida Gators vs. Alabama, Jake has told me a couple of different times how he feels nervous for the football game so we will see what happens! And then of course we have LSU playing Kentucky which really isn't a big game at all, but Jordan Jefferson is being put back in the game so we will see. Although our weekend is going to be pretty busy since Jake is working all weekend, my mom is coming into town for my sister's two baby showers that are both this weekend so our weekend will probably be filled with lots of family time, and excitement as we look forward to seeing all the precious baby gear for sweet baby Manges! There will definitely be ALOT more pictures to edit and download and blog next week probably since there are two baby showers to document, loving the fun family events though, YAY!

Not the most exciting Tuesday

2011-09-27T20:33:00.000-07:00

Well another day has come and gone, our Tuesday was not the most exciting of all days, but it was a good day relaxing and getting some stuff done around the house so I can't complain too much. I went to bed last night with a killer headache, haven't had a headache like this since I was in the hospital this summer so I took some special headache drugs and went to bed and woke up and felt so much better. We slept in a little this morning since Jake was off work today but got up and hung around and ate breakfast together, nothing spectacular just oatmeal for Jake and toaster waffles for me but it was good nonetheless. Other than that we really just hung around the house taking care of a few things, trying to get all my medical claims straightened out with our insurance and calling my doctor to verify my dosage for medicine for traveling very soon. We also worked on finishing a couple of projects that we started working on over the weekend and then I did some picking up around the house a little bit since our living room and dining room area were starting to feel a little bit messy really just piled with junk.

I didn't even cook tonight just had left overs from dinner last night of chicken, macaroni and cheese, and I cooked some corn to go with that for dinner tonight and we ate dinner while we watched tonight's episode of Glee. After dinner I cleaned up the kitchen while Jake made a yummy trail mix mixture of some different things of mixed nuts we had left over in the pantry and then we watched Dancing With The Stars: The Results Show to see who got kicked off this week and thankfully it wasn't any of my favorites!!! Again nothing exciting happening I am now hanging out listening to some new music while I blog and will probably spend a good while pinning in a little while and Jake is watching Storage Wars while Emmitt snores on the couch.

Again tomorrow is another day closer to the weekend when my mom will be here to visit for the weekend and to go to both of my sister's baby showers, I'm SO EXCITED to see all of my family!! And just beyond excited to see all the precious baby stuff for our adorable Baby Manges coming to join us in December and this Aunt Gigi CANNOT WAIT!! And also just another day closer to our vacation I am desperately waiting for, but still really cannot believe its almost October! Well that is about all about our boring Tuesday, looking forward to the rest of the week!

Oh...one last thing, whoever finds yourself reading this blog and post I would ask that you lift up Sunday Ibok who is a young 31 year old man who has suffered a bad brain aneurysm. The doctors who have been diligently treating him have pronounced him brain dead while he is still on life support, while all of his friends and family and people all over the world are desperately pleading with God for a true miracle that only He could perform. If you would join everyone in prayer for Sunday and his family! Here is a link to his facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=54603344&ref=ts#!/sunday.ibok?sk=wall

Our Weekend

2011-09-26T17:57:00.000-07:00

Jake & I had a great weekend, we got alot of stuff done errands and being productive around the house, but also had alot of fun and watched ALOT of football. Jake's work schedule was really great this weekend, he had Friday and Sunday off work so we were able to visit another church around here to see if we can get any closer to finding a church home here. I will write more about the church home search later, but since it is our first to be doing this together I would say it is going pretty good, we have only had a few differences during the whole search. Since Jake was off a good amount this weekend we had some good time to get some fun stuff for me to work on creative projects for Fall decorations and also a few other projects I have already started to work on for Christmas gifts and getting ideas to start working on for the SWEETEST little gift coming to join the Ellison family in December and I am beyond excited!! We also worked on doing some cleaning and were able to rearrange the living room into a better, more open setup that we like alot more, rearranging rooms in the house always makes everything feel so refreshed and new, I love it!

A big plus to our weekend was my dad and brother being in the area for the weekend. Although we didn't get to see them alot this weekend since they were in the Beaumont area most of the weekend for a friends Chief of Police swearing in ceremony for the city of Beaumont a nice lunch and hanging out is always nice no matter what. So on Saturday afternoon we all met at one of our family favorites, Chuy's Mexican restaurant for a yummy lunch. The rest of my Saturday while Jake was finishing his day at work was spent watching lots of very good college football games, although my # 1 Texas team didn't play this week there was so many great games on tv. Some great ones I caught on tv were the Alabama vs. Arkansas game, Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma State, Florida State vs. Clemson, Florida vs. Kentucky, and LSU vs. West Virginia. And the one amazing thing that I loved about Saturday was that EVERY SINGLE team I wanted and needed to win won their games in awesome ways, I was LOVING IT!! We also got to talk to Jake's Aunt Sally quite a bit this weekend and talked alot more about our planning and details for big vacation coming up in just two short weeks. And I'll tell you the more and more we talk about our trip especially to Aunt Sally since she lives there she is taking care of alot of the details and is our official travel guide so we get so excited about it when we hear from her!!

Dad, Jenna, & Me outside Chuy's Mexican Restaurant

LOVE my family :)

What an exciting day today is!!

2011-09-22T10:28:00.000-07:00

Today is a GREAT DAY it is only one day closer to our vacation, but especially because tonight is the big two hour season 8 premiere of Grey's Anatomy which just happens to be my all time favorite show and I cannot put my excitement into words! When season 7 ended in May there was so much going and the writers kinda left us hanging by a thread as to what was going to happen with so many of the characters, situations, and just how everything was going to play out. I am so anxious to see how they start off the season, hoping for a really dramatic good one! I am very excited it is two hours long though, I am going to need every minute I can get, plus there are alot of character stories to get through so we shall see! But tonight at 8:00 you know where I will be, the DVR is ready and everything!! I love when all my shows start back up for the fall, just another GREAT thing about the fall season!

Grey's Anatomy Season 8 Cast looking fabulous

What will Alex do? Where will Meredith and his friendship go to?

Dr. Meredith Grey gets fired from messing with the Alzheimer's clinical trial. What will she do? Will the Chief let her come back and work at the hospital?

Cristina & Owen have hit a rough spot as she found out at the end of season 7 that she is pregnant. While this is great news, she doesn't want to keep the baby because she doesn't want to be a mother, only a surgeon and focus on her career, but Owen on the other hand feels completely opposite. Will they split and divorce or possibly keep the baby?

A collage of images from the season 8 premiere, the beautiful Dr. Derek Sheperd playing with their adopted baby, Zola, Dr. Teddy Altman & "husband" Henry, Meredith and Alex, and Jackson & April. What will happen will Henry & Teddy, when will they actually realize they have fallen in love? Will Alex & Meredith mend their friendship considering all that happened at the end of season 7 with the clinical trial, Meredith getting fired, and everything? And now that April was made Chief Resident how will that change things? And where does this all leave Lexi & Jackson?

Meredith & Derek and baby Zola discussing their situation...

I can't wait to see how Meredith is as a mom with baby Zola!

Exactly 3 weeks from today!!!

2011-09-21T08:31:00.000-07:00

To start off, the most important and exciting things are first and that is what I have a couple of pictures of below. So exactly 3 weeks from today Jake & I will be on our beloved vacation we have been looking SO SO forward to and I have been trying to keep myself busy lately to contain my level of excitement, impatience, and anticipation. I know that right now 3 weeks still sounds like a long time, but I know it will fly by and we will be on our lovely airplane flying up, up, and away to Boston, MA for 9 whole days together! Not to mention in the meantime I have quite a bit of stuff to work on to keep myself busy and definitely things to do that I am looking forward to.

Starting this week I started working on a few of my fall decorations for around the house along with a few Christmas projects that required significant early ordering. We also went on our last grocery trip before our vacation, we got plenty of food to make big meals that we will have leftovers and enough things to have small things like sandwhiches and stuff a couple of nights. I am also BEYOND thrilled about Grey's Anatomy season 8 2 hour premiere coming on Thursday night, oh how I love that show, I cannot even describe it!! I am also looking forward to this weekend because Jake is off on Friday and Sunday and we both always really enjoy those days even if all we do is sit around and hang out at home it is so nice to have someone to sit around the house with besides Emmitt & I haha. Another thing that I am excited about is this weekend my dad and brother are coming to Beaumont for my dad's best friend who just got the City of Beaumont Chief of Police job so they are coming to celebrate that with him so I am hoping we will get to see my dad and brother at some point during the weekend which would be so nice. And then next weekend my mom will be in town since my sister is having both of her baby showers next weekend, getting so excited to see all that sweet baby stuff and getting very ready for my baby nephew/niece to be here, I CANNOT WAIT!

Boston Logan Airport-where we will be 3 weeks from today, I cannot wait to get off that plane and let that vacation finally begin!!!

What have we been up to lately...besides watching football?

2011-09-16T20:24:00.000-07:00

What have we been up to lately? Aside from loving having our football back, we are ready for fall to arrive, especially the weather! We have had several nice weather days where it didn't reach 90, stayed in the 80s, then we had some where it stayed in the low 90s, but we know our fall weather will arrive one of these days! I know in just three weeks we are going to get our serious, glorious, wonderful, and very much needed fix of fall weather and new scenery and we CANNOT WAIT! I know I say something along those lines about how much we are looking forward to this vacation, but I don't think anyone but the two of us can safely understand how deeply we need this trip after this year and especially this summer! But other than that, Jake has been working quite a bit, he just got finished with part one of his management training this week and seemed to really enjoy himself, he really learned alot! One of the many things that I totally admire about Jake and his personality that I so plan on passing on to our children is how to always press on, keep looking for somewhere to upgrade yourself no matter whether its in furthering yourself in the company you work, at church, friendships, being creative, losing weight and being healthy, the options are pretty much endless. Anyways that is one of Jake's biggest qualities that I love and admire!

We have also had dinner with my sister and brother in law twice in the last week which has been really nice to see them more often since we live so close, I feel like that is kinda the point haha! I am really starting to get REALLY excited about this sweet little baby nephew or niece coming in December, only a couple more months! I started having dreams about "him" the other night and he is might cute, OH how I would LOVE to spend my days with him, my world would literally explode with happiness, I just don't think anyone really knows haha. My sister is having both of her baby showers in the next couple weeks, one that her church here is giving her and the other that all my aunts are giving here and I cannot wait to get my hands on all that precious baby gear! I have also really been brainstorming baby central here lately, wish I could share all of my ideas and plans for when the little one arrives but that would give it all away and you know I have to be a little secretive!! :) AUNT GIGI LOVES YOU :)

So once we get back from our trip I plan on really breaking out the fall decor and picking out some pumpkins at either a pumpkin patch or I suppose I could settle for Target haha. I have been brainstorming lots of cute fall decor ideas for the house lately because I am so ready for a good season change and for the holidays to get here. But I added a few pictures below of a few fall projects I plan on working on when we get back from our trip and one that is already in the process of being made since it doesn't involve pumpkins.

Cute baby pumpkins covered with your choice of scrapbooking fall paper and easily glued with modge podge or spray adhesive.

More baby orange pumpkins in the bottom of a clear vase with curly coming out of the top

Regular orange pumpkin with a initial made of your choice of scrapbook paper, glued with modge podge or spray adhesive.

LOVE these...in the process of making mine right now, hoping to make it a little larger than these, it is going to be orange like the one here on the left with cream mixed in and will also have some cute embellishments on the outside. I will make sure I post a picture of the finished product, I can't wait to see how it turns out. It is just either a straw wreath form wrapped in plastic(plastic left on) or styrofoam wreath foam, your color choice of yarn, whatever embellishments you like, ribbon to hang it from, and a little hot glue to make sure everything secure.

Just a simple orange pumpkin with your choice of ribbon to decorate it with and any other embellishments you like.

Long week...another weekend of fun, football, & hanging out ahead.

2011-09-16T17:35:00.000-07:00

After such a long week for Jake & I, it is finally FRIDAY and time to celebrate the weekend and its events, which for us always mean our big college football games, Sunday NFL Football, & to continue following the MLB Almost Post-season, obviously following our beloved New York Yankees. If you haven't been able to tell quite yet, we LOVE our sports. When we got married I was starting to get Jake drawn into baseball because he never watched it or was into it growing up and such. And since I personally feel like no one should miss out on the love that is the game of baseball, there is just nothing like a good, exciting baseball game, home runs are such a special moment. But since we both grew up LOVING football there was no explaining that sport necessary, although I was always more of an NFL fan than college growing up, but being married to Jake has really kinda drifted me the complete other way, so it has been really interesting. One game we had on Thursday night that was a little weird since it wasn't on Saturday afternoon or night was LSU and thankfully they won, so the LSU Tigers now stand at 3-0! Our Texas Longhorns had kinda a rough game last week, ended up taking out there quarterback and replacing him with Case McCoy (a.k.a. Colt's younger brother), Case did a great job and we came out with a win. So this week we are hoping to play even better with an even better win, this week we play UCLA Bruins which last year didn't go so well, but this year IS A DIFFERENT STORY! And tomorrow afternoon Jake's beloved Florida Gators are playing Tennessee which should be a good game, we are both looking forward to watching it, he will have to record it since he has to work until 8 tomorrow :( And then our last really big to watch tomorrow which thankfully isn't until 8 so we will get to watch it together is the big Florida State vs. Oklahoma University(who is #1). It is going to be one great game to watch because neither of us like either of those teams, but we will both be cheering for different teams because of the ranking advantages, so we shall see what happens!

Other than sports, Jake has been working alot this week since he had a three day management training plus his regular work schedule after his training was over on Wednesday evening. I haven't been that busy really, just trying to get everything taken care of here at home before October rolls around and we leave for our trip, which we are OH SO EXCITED about! Since I have so much spare time on my hands at home I have been trying to get all the closets and cabinets all organized before the holidays roll around since I am planning breaking out all of my fall decorations and working on some really cute fall stuff for the house when we get back from the trip and I want to make sure everything is organized and easy to find. And I am already at the point of counting down the days till our amazing vacation we have waited so long for, its almost to the point of where I sit around wishing that September would just be over already, so I think I am WAY PAST excited!

September 11, 2001

2011-09-13T11:39:00.000-07:00

September 11, 2001 @ 8:46 a.m: I remember EVERYTHING about that day like I could walk back there and it experience all over again, EVERY LITTLE DETAIL! I remember it started off just like any other old day, nothing special at all about it, it was just a random day in September. It was a day in September in 2001 when my dad and brother had gone ahead in August and made the big move to Abilene so my dad could start his new job as the Chief of Police at ACU and so my younger brother could start at his new school while my mom, older sister and I stayed back home in Beaumont. I remember I was in the 9th grade at Cathedral Christian High School on the historic day. I was in my first period high school Physics science class with Mr. Lee when our principal walked in our classroom to pull our teacher out in the hallway to deliever the hard news to him but didn't tell the class, which I have always found strange. We left the class and I went on to my second period class which was my Math/Algebra class where I was told what had happened and what was going to happen since there was just so much chaos going on at that point. I remember asking questions, alot of why, and then going to have a devotional with the entire school in the hallway since I went to a Christian school we always did things like this in times like this, and I remember going home early! I remember staying home all day watching the news coverage all day with my sister and two cousins and also baking sugar cookies later because that always makes you feel better and going to eat mexican food at one of our local favorites with my grandparents and mom and still to this day when I walk in the restaurant I can remember the exact booth we sat in that day.

Some other distinct things I remember from that day:

- I remember calling my Dad that day since he was living in Abilene, I remember how emotional and uncomfortable feeling knowing that he was 500 miles away from the rest of our family unit on that scary day. I specifically remember asking my Dad if this was World War III because for our generation, at least someone my age this was the absolute first experience to war or terrorism or anything like that so that was another very uncomfortable feeling.

-I remember that I was wearing jeans and turquoise long sleeve v-neck t-shirt from American Eagle that day.

picture of The New York Times on September 12th probably printed the day after attacks

one of the many images I remember so vividly from the news coverage, magazines, newspaper, etc...

loved what God did to our nation on this day and sometimes think we forget that as a nation and people on a daily basis, we were a different country and people on that day and in the days and months after...

I will always remember seeing the endless amounts of debris in New York at Ground Zero from the collapse of the World Trade towers. I took my school trip to New York City in March of 2002 not very long after 9/11 happened and will never forget what Ground Zero looked like there was still an inhumane hole in the ground so deep, everything was gated off, most of the debris was cleared off so it didn't look at all like this image but there endless amounts of cards, pictures, notes, flowers and everything covering the gate in front of ground zero and all kinds of memorbial and plaques which was an experience I will never forget.

Such a beautiful and meaningful memorial

The most creative design of a memorial I could ever think of, so special and meaningful to the victims' families, countries leaders, nyc fire fighters, police fighters, port authorities, everyone in the country and the world because everyone was affected!

WE WILL NEVER FORGET 9/11!!

Great Start to The Weekend

2011-09-10T11:59:00.000-07:00

Last night since Jake got off work early we were able to get our weekend started off early in a fun way by getting to have dinner with my sister and brother in law at their house. It was our first time to have dinner with it just being the four of us, but needless to say it was a delicious meal that my sister cooked, a wonderful herb roasted pork roast, roasted red potatoes, fresh green beans, and a yummy green salad. They showed us the sweet baby's room which we both loved, all they have left to do is hang wall decor stuff up and get the bed from my mom in a few weeks when she comes from the two showers and get that all set up in the room and also a chair/glider that they ordered from a baby furniture store here in Houston that will be here in October and it will be ready for a sweet baby!! We are really starting to get more and more excited by the day for this nephew or niece of ours, I really feel like it is a boy and have just felt like that all along, but I guess we will see!

Another fun part of our weekend that is such an exciting part of every Saturday for us is College Football, it is so fun for us to get into each other's teams together and see what kind of good games happen each week, WE LOVE FOOTBALL!! I took the liberty of putting up a few pictures of our top three teams that we cheer on every Saturday no matter what since I really didn't have any other pictures to put up on here today! But anyways we will see how this Saturday of College Football unfolds for our household, I am really hoping for an exciting one, those really make for the best games!! Best luck to your teams and hopefully it is a fun Saturday and weekend for your family no matter if your teams win or lose! HAPPY SATURDAY :)

Garrett Gilbert -Quarterback- University of Texas Longhorns #7

HOOK' EM HORNS

GEAUX TIGERS!!

We love Les Miles and Jordan Jefferson and love to cheer on the LSU Tigers!!

Let's GO GATORS!!

2011-09-07T21:25:00.000-07:00

I have been back from my exciting, fun trip to Abilene for awhile now but haven't sat down to upload the pictures to the computer and onto the blog and write about my weekend. So here we go...the last weekend of August Jake drove me to meet my parents in Temple (which is halfway between Katy & Abilene) so they could pick me up and take me back to Abilene for the weekend. It was really great to even get away for just a couple of days and so so incredibely wonderful to get back to Abilene and see the girls and spend the weekend with them! We got back pretty late on Wednesday night and hung out for a little while before heading to bed and then on Thursday morning Sara & Elizabeth came over to hang out since I was basically DYING to see that sweet baby girl who can talk like a four year now, wow! But I just hung out at my parent's house for the remainder of the morning until lunch time when I went to Oscar's for mexican food with my dad and brother and then went shopping for Elizabeth birthday presents with my mom later that afternoon when she got home from work. Luckily at the two stores to choose from there in Abilene for kids toys we were able to find Elizabeth some cute things like some adorable big girl pajamas, a sweet Madam Alexander baby doll, and a hilarious pink singing pig named Percy who sing My Girl. Once we got finished with our shopping we met my brother for dinner at Little Italy which was so delish as always! Then on Friday I had a hair appointment that morning to get a very much needed haircut and then my dad & I took Claire took lunch at the Hot Dog place as she calls it, I got to give her her birthday present since I wasn't able to come to her bday party since I was in the hospital in Houston and she loved it, it was such a precious pink ballet backpack to put all of her ballet clothes and such in with her name monogrammed on the front and a cute Angelina Ballerina book all about ballet that she loved and loved. I stayed all day over at the Trammells house and spent some much needed time with everyone and later that evening had dinner with all their family and mine included which was fun.

Then Saturday we had the BIG BIRTHDAY BASH of Elizabeth & Scout, which was fun with swimming, pizza, cupcakes, lots of kids and families that I have missed desperately, and open presents with a very exciting two year old. Elizabeth and Scout and best friends who were born two days apart and have had their birthdays together since they share so many of the same friends. Later Saturday night my parents & I went to dinner with the Trammells minus Sara & Talmadge who were at the Grace Museum Gala, so it was the grandparents with all the kids so we had dinner with them and then went to have frozen yogurt together which really fun. Then Sunday was spent just hanging out around the house with my parents until we left to meet Matt & Jenna in Temple for them to pick me up to take me back to Katy with them. So needless to say it was a GREAT ABILENE weekend and I needed it so much, it is so crazy how much it has helped me through everything!! Enjoy the sweet pictures :)

Claire Louise

Elizabeth enjoying swimming at her 2nd birthday party

Claire & Avery having fun swimming at the birthday party

The birthday girl posing for a quick picture

Singing happy birthday to Elizabeth, cannot believe it has already been two years since God blessed us with her!

She was really enjoying her icing

LOVING her birthday cupcake

Claire having another piece of pizza poolside

Elizabeth having a Caprisun poolside

The birthday girl making her funny face

She is loving this cupcake

YUMMY!!

Happy Birthday to you sweet girl!!!

She was blue icing everywhere!!

She LOVED percy the Pig singing My Girl to her!!!

Never Been So Excited To Go To Abilene!!

2011-08-24T14:07:00.000-07:00

So this weekend will be my first trip to go back to Abilene since I left there in the lovely Ambulance from Hendrick down to Methodist Hospital here in Houston, needless to say its going to be just a little bit weird but I am otherwise VERY EXCITED! I kind of left Abilene a total mess as far as leaving all my stuff which my dad had to bring me and of course he forgot some semi important things but I also didn't get to say my proper goodbyes and was just a wreck emotionally when I left Abilene. I feel like things have gotten alot better in the last couple weeks or so but I cannot tell you how much this trip back to Abilene is going to mean to me which I know probably sounds so crazy to whoever might be reading this! It even makes myself laugh when I think about how I'm actually excited to go to Abilene for a few days because that is something that several years ago I totally used to dread doing so it really cracks me up when I think about it!

But as far as what am going to do while I am there for a few days, I am beyond excited about it but to most people it would definitely mean nothing! When Jake gets off work here in just a few minutes we are hitting the road to drive about three hours to meet my parents at the half way point to Abilene so neither us or them have to drive the full six hours to pick me up since I cannot drive myself. Once we get there nothing exciting will be happening except Duke seeing me which I fully prepared for since I know he will go completely crazy, then tomorrow is baby Elizabeth's birthday so might be going to lunch with Sara & Elizabeth, then Friday I have a hair cut appointment in the morning, and Friday night dinner with all the Trammells to spend some time with them, and Saturday Elizabeth & Scout's big bday bash of turning 2, and other than that there really isn't much else planned besides some quality parent and brother time! Anyways as you can tell from the pictures below this is what Abilene, Texas means to me and is definitely why I am so excited to go for a few days!

Cannot believe this sweet baby girl is turning TWO years old tomorrow!!

the THREE SWEETEST ANGELS

LOVE THIS BABY!!

I mean who could not absolutely love that face!!?

Her sweet, little bedside visits while I was in the hospital in Abilene brought tears to my eyes and a much needed smile on my face, LOVE THIS GIRL!! :)

Trying to get back to normal...

2011-08-20T14:41:00.001-07:00

Aside from everything else that has been going on I feel like the rest of our lives have totally gotten sidetracked so I am trying to play catch up on everything else that has been going on besides all my medical problems. So first things first, back at the end of June before Jake had moved here my mom & I came down to Houston for my cousin Hannah's wedding that I was a bridesmaid in and unfortunately Jake couldn't get off work so he had to stay in Abilene for work. It was really great to go spend the week with family and everything, I enjoyed hanging out with my sister for the week, we got to do some fun baby shopping and brainstorming for the new little one that will be here before we know it and this Aunt Giji CANNOT WAIT!! Here is the wedding week in pictures, some might be a little bit out of order, so sorry!

Mom and Jenna at Hannah's bridal brunch & lingerie shower

Hannah opening her gifts, while Rachel (the maid of honor) is writing everything she got from everyone down.

"The Sisterhood Ring" from James Avery: a year or two ago the women in our family started this tradition of buying their "sisters" when their birthday rolled around this beautiful sterling silver ring that is called the sisterhood ring and has a great story behind it. I actually got my sister her ring for her birthday this past April, her hand is the second one from the left I think.

Little Miss Adley Ann at the bridal brunch

The Bride's Wedding cake...the is the first family wedding we have had that I can remember where my mom & Aunt Beth didn't do the wedding cakes so that was a little weird for me to experience. But this cake was cute and everyone said that it tasted great, I of course didn't have any.

And this was the groom's cake, very different and interesting, all chocolate, with chocolate covered cheeries, and with the couple's favorite on top, Dr. Pepper.

The cute candy bar they had at the reception, it was displayed very cute with lots of different candies to choose from and cute little vases with the gerber daisies in them. The candy bar was enjoyed ALOT by all the little kids at the wedding/reception they really loved it!

Here is a picture of one of the tables, with one of the two different centerpieces that were used at the reception. The wedding colors were orange, yellow, and white so the tables had white table cloths with orange organza overlays with a cute swirly design on them. They used two different centerpieces, this one on this table was tall, square vases with lemons and limes all in the bottom with gerber daisies, belles of ireland, and some stock all coming out of the top of the vase. Also at each place setting were the ceremony program and the wedding favors that were individual boxes with a gerber daisy on the top that had a heart shaped brownie inside for each guest to take home.

Here is a picture of the other centerpiece that was used on the rest of the tables, they were cinderella carriages painted white all filled with flowers- gerber daisies, orange roses, stock, greenery, and belles of ireland.

This is a picture of the arrangements that were at the front of the ceremony, they were just tall iron displays filled with the gerber daisies, greenery, belles of ireland, roses, and stock.

Here is another view of the centerpieces and tables and chairs at the ceremony/reception.

Here is one of the welcome tables you saw you walked in, it was filled with candles, a few little vases that had orange and yellow gerber daisies in them, and a couple of Hannah & Justin's engagement photos.

This is a picture of the sign in table with their guest book and two of their engagement pictures.

Here is just a picture of one of the little flower arrangement of roses, gerber daisies, stock, and greenery on one of the front tables when you walked in.

Here is a picture of how everything looked with the tables and chairs and centerpieces and everything all set up.

Precious little Adley Ann hanging out with all the girls while we all got ready for the wedding.

Sweet little Jenna (she was one of the flower girls) and my cousin Alexandrah at the reception

Here is one of Jenna & Jenna, so cute!

My sweet parents, love them, cute picture of Mr. & Mrs. Jimmy Ellison

And here is Mr. & Mrs. Matt Manges at the reception

She is just so adorable to me, we put the garter around her little head like a headband.

The newlyweds making their exit while everyone threw rose petals at them.

The newlyweds all in the cinderella carriage ready to leave, Congrats to Mr. & Mrs. Justin Bonin!

Officially Released AGAIN (hoping to be the last)

2011-08-06T20:11:00.000-07:00

So as of late Thursday evening I was FINALLY released from Methodist Hospital in Houston and able to go home to my new apartment with Jake in Katy which I had not even seen since the first weekend of July. Upon leaving the hospital things are still kind of not under control and we are still trying to work with the doctors, medications, and my conditions to try and settle everything down. Because I was hooked up to a constant EEG monitor for 7 days straight in hopes that the doctor and nursing staff would be able to record an actual epileptic seizure while I was being monitored, but for the most part that was something didn't really ever happen. The doctor was never able to see or record one of my truly bad, epileptic seizures that I have been having more of lately most likely because of the very safe and controlled environment I was in while at the hospital often doesn't allow some patients to have seizures they might have otherwise. But what the doctors were able to see were some other different kinds of seizures nothing like tonic-clonic(grand mals), but more like peti mal seizures, and other types of seizures that are much more mild, but still were able to give the doctors the brain wave clues that it was definitely abnormal epileptic brain waves causing all of these different types of seizures anywhere from mild to very dangerous.

When I was released from the hospital I was sent home with two new prescriptions to start for my anti-seizure medications and some new things to start doing while we continue treating my epilepsy condition and try to get it under control. My new doctor here in Houston sent me home with 2,000 mg. of Keppra daily and 100 mg. Zonegran daily as of right now. I am still on my diabetes medicines, folic acid vitamin, and also have my headache/migraine medicine, and anti-nausea medicine. I have to call Monday to schedule my follow up appointment with my new neurologist here in Houston, who is also an Epilepsy Specialist, who is also the doctor I was seeing here in Houston at Methodist Hospital. My new doctors also sent me home with some "homework" haha, which is to document EVERYTHING that goes on with my body, anything I feel, any side effect I have from the medicines I am on, anything and everything that is the same and or different that goes on with the seizures I have, and any other complications I may continue to have. Although I didn't get as many clear, straight forward answers as I had hoped for while at the hospital, but the good thing I see is that I am here in Houston with one of the very very best Epilepsy doctors out there and I have learned it is more of a journey to getting the condition under control rather than a diagnosis, medication, and everything is better. I know it is going to be a very long road but I'm praying and trying my hardest to be able to gain the best quality of life for me but healthy at the same time.

I also had an MRI with contrast while I was at the hospital here in Houston and while the structural results to that test all came back normal like they usually do. But my doctor also wanted to have a radiologist that specializes in reading MRI's involving seizures and Epilepsy read my MRI results so it will be a couple of more weeks before we find out the results to what that radiologist sees.

The last couple of INSANE weeks

2011-07-31T22:51:00.000-07:00

So just wanted to update a little on here since the last time I posted on here basically everything in life was very different than things are now. Our summer plans ended up getting slightly derailed slightly meaning almost changing them altogether so the last month has literally been insane. I will start back to the weekend of July 4th we had been in Houston with my family while they were all helping us move into our new apartment down here when I had a small seizure like episode that Saturday and again that Monday on July 4th. So after getting back to Abilene to try and finish out my job for the month of July I saw my neurologist about the recent episodes so he decided to adjust my medicine somewhat in hopes that would help. So now we fast forward to Wednesday, July 13th while at work I got really sick, started to get very nauseous, was having triple vision, a horrible headache, and couldn't feel most of my lower body definitely my legs which made walking pretty much impossible. Luckily my mom was able to come over and help me with Claire & Elizabeth while I was so sick, I started throwing up while at work, and Sara got home early and was able to help get me in the car so I could go home. We were able to drive home, although I had to throw up in a bag in the short car ride to our house where my dad met us and carried me inside to the couch where I continued to throw up and be sick until the phenegren kicked in and I went to sleep for most of the day. So after a few days on and off of being sick we called my neurologist and he decided to back off of my medication and that seem to help somewhat. I was still following all of my doctor's medicine orders but got even sicker Saturday night, hadn't really eaten in days, but was throwing up so violently and went into about 4-5 seizures at home before the ambulance got to our house and continued to throw up and have seizures in the ambulance and the ER that night before getting admitted and getting some very strong anti seizure medications in my iv.

So after all the seizure activity and being so sick I was admitted to Hendrick Medical Center, given fluids, adovane, and zofran for the awful nausea. While there Monday I was very weak and trying to recover since it usually takes at least a few days after I have such strong seizure episodes, then Tuesday I was starting to feel more like myself, and once Wednesday came it was just about awful. On Tuesday morning around 5:00ish I woke up with horrible nausea to start off with and then learned my blood sugar was crashing the nurses then got me to take a nausea pill and drink some apple juice to raise my blood sugar and I immediately threw up the juice and medicine. I then continued to throw up and had my first seizure of that day early around 7 and continued to have them all day long until about 9 or 10 pm that night. And like every seizure episode I don't remember any of it, but this was so intense I was so so sore that I didn't even know I could be this sore. So I stayed recovering from the seizures and getting all my strength back until Saturday afternoon, layed around on the couch most of the day, dropped off my medicines at the pharmacy, went to the grocery store (where I was only allowed to sit at a table in the cafe area the whole time), helped my sister pick out a baby chair at kids village and was only allowed to sit there also. So Sunday I also just layed around and hung out at home, ate lunch with the family, told my dad bye since he was leaving for a police chiefs conference in houston for this week. I remember feeling very tired even after sleep a good 8-10 hours the night before and just very very out of it, zoned out, like I just wasn't there. But I definitely don't recall either one of the seizures I had that afternoon before being taken back to Hendrick ER again that evening.

That was my last big significant seizure, I have since gotten taken off all of my medications, the only thing I am currently taking is my diabetes medicine. I was readmitted last sunday the 16th and stayed there until Tuesday when I was transferred by ambulance all the way to Methodist Hospital here in Houston where I have been ever since. I got hooked up to a constant EEG on Wednesday early afternoon and we are just waiting for the seizure activity to increase enough with the big stuff. The doctors have been saying the last day or so that I am having small seizure episodes just not the big ones quite yet, they are saying the big one is going to happen at anytime now so all we can do is wait so waiting is what we are doing. We have had the greatest family support through all of this, we have been very very blessed, I don't even want to think about what we would have to do without family. It has been a very emotional last couple weeks but I am trying my absolute hardest to let whatever is supposed to happen just happen. Now I am just ready for that big ole' seizure, please bring it God, I know he can so let's just make it happen!

Anyways we are hoping and praying our hardest for some serious action these next couple of days and ask that everyone prays the same with us. We appreciate ALL the amazing love, support, thoughts, and prayers that have come our way and once again are so blessed with such great family and friends during times like this. I will do my best to keep this up to date on the current situation.

Some pictures are better than none...Hendrick Medical Center, where I spent the first part of my medical journey, which ended up being about a week and a half.

Methodist Hospital in Houston which has been my home for almost a week now, so blessed to be here.

Only two weeks to go!!!

2011-06-18T11:07:00.000-07:00

Since I'm somewhat behind on blogging I haven't had a chance to update on our recent plans of moving to Katy from Abilene VERY SOON! Back at the beginning of June after Jake found out that he didn't receive the job promotion he had interviewed for and really hoping to get at the Abilene Sprint store, he randomly got a call from a store manager in the Katy area he had talked to a few months back. The store manager at the Katy Sprint store had recently got an open spot for the same promotion he had interviewed for at the Abilene store. Right off the bat Jake & the store manager in Katy really clicked and he was offered a job very quickly which was such great news but still ALOT to think about. We really felt like it was such a great opportunity and at a really good time in our lives with Jake really wanting to move up in the Sprint company, my sister & brother in law who live there and getting ready to welcome their first baby into the world in mid December, just wanting to be closer to all my family that lives in that area, and just with all of Jake's family moving to different places all outside of Abilene. We both just felt like we were ready to move on to the next phase in our life and really just felt at peace with this opportunity to move our life to the Katy area.

After telling our families and really making the decision real we began the good ole' apartment search and with the help of my sister and brother in law we were able to find a great apartment even with being six hours away which was such a blessing. It has also turned out to blessing that Houston just happens to have some of the best medical care in the country and seeing as how I have been having lots of medical difficulties and definitely need close monitoring with my diabetes and epilepsy issues I really feel like it is going to work out great, my doctors have been great with giving me really good references down in that area. The only thing that is going to be pretty difficult but I know will end up working out for the best is that because my driving restrictions with epilepsy really mess with my job abilities I am going to stay here in Abilene for the month of July and live with my parents and continue working for the Trammells and go on vacation with them at the end of July into August to Vail, Colorado.

We are really getting excited and moving and beginning this next adventure in life together! But our sweet little Abilene will definitely be missed, I think I will miss Abilene more than Jake will which is totally ok. It is going to be weird to not live in the same town as my parents anymore but I know it will be fine, it will just be that more exciting when I see them. But I know what is going to be the most difficult for me is being away from my three little girls- Maggie, Claire, & Elizabeth. I am definitely so glad that I get to go to Colorado for eight days with them, it is really going to help be one last fun time with the whole family which is really special to me. And I know this really isn't a goodbye because I will be back often to visit my parents and them but I will just have to really get used to not seeing them every day and not being involved in all their big milestones in their lives. I definitely know I will be in Abilene for every birthday in January and August as long as it is possible. But words can not explain in any way, shape, or form how excited I am to be so close when my sweet little nephew or niece gets here, it is SO SO much such a dream come true for me. So needless to say I cannot wait for December to get here!!

Next on the list is the trip next week with my family down to Houston/Beaumont for my cousin Hannah's wedding, we are leaving Wednesday afternoon after I get off work and coming back Sunday evening. Then the very next weekend we leave to start the moving process so the next two weeks are going to be SO CRAZY for us. I will hopefully get a chance to update before all the moving craziness starts of a full wedding/family trip post, so stay tuned!

End of the year stuff

2011-06-03T18:41:00.000-07:00

So as always at the end of the year, mainly in May the girls have alot of programs and events to attend that are always too adorable for words and as expected I enjoy EVERY minute of them! I think it gets better every single year because each year they are one year older and you can really start to see their true talent and personality through all of their activities and such. These pictures below go from most recent to earlier in the month and tried my hardest to get the best pictures of them but as we all know capturing kids under 5 is really not the easiest thing in life to do. If I am able to find a video of their dance recital I will definitely post it on here because it is just too precious not to share! Hope you enjoy the pictures from their May events.

Claire doing her ballerina stance for a picture during intermission at the recital

Elizabeth with my mom's glasses on being silly during intermission at the recital

Smart Baby Elizabeth...such a cutie!!

Claire receiving her gymnastics medal after performing on the floor and balance beam, so cute to watch them be awarded their own medals, they were SO PROUD!

Maggie getting her gymnastics medal, this girl loves her gymnastics class and is actually getting pretty good at all the different tricks they are all starting to do!

Maggie after she did a cartwheel off of the balance beam, we were all WAY PROUD of her!

Claire doing her balance beam act, she was so serious and cute while she did everything!

Elizabeth & I after Claire's end of the year preschool program...not sure why she is pouting but she has been pouting on command alot lately, I guess it is just a phase!

Claire's 3 year old class performing their fruit of the spirit songs...each row wore either green, yellow, or red shirts with painted fruit on them. It is always so cute to hear them sing all about Jesus and all the songs they learn at school.

Here is another picture, basically the same as the one above, just unfortunately with random people's heads in the picture. It was really hard to get a picture close enough where you could actually see Claire really well since I didn't go sit on the floor while they are singing haha.

Graduation Weekend

2011-06-03T18:06:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago one of my closest cousins graduated from ACU so we had some family in town to see her graduate and celebrate with lunch afterwards. Unfortunately the only thing I got pictures of was the after celebration which sucks a little but I suppose I will live. It has been a great four years to have Rachel here in Abilene while she has been going to school here at ACU and she definitely will be missed. Luckily we will be seeing quite a bit of Rachel even though she won't be living here in Abilene anymore because her fiance isn't graduating until December so I know she will be here visiting him, but also here in a couple weeks we have Hannah(her sister's) wedding down in Beaumont and then this coming up March Rachel is getting married which means lots of family time in the next several months. But here are a few pictures from our last official lunch celebration with Rachel here with us in Abilene.

The only thing that kinda put a damper on that fun weekend filled with fun graduation celebration was that I had another seizure that afternoon while all of us girls-mom, jenna, rachel, and monica were on our way to one of our favorite little antique stores. So we went home to try and get me all settled after having a seizure in Rachel's car on the way to this antique store. So after all this happened Jake & I spend the rest of the weekend at my parents house so someone could make sure I was ok while I was recovering from the seizure, especially while Jake had to work some that weekend. I will do a whole other post soon on my most recent neurologist appointment and all the current updates on my condition.

Rachel & Christopher

Rachel, Christopher, & Bailey (Rachel's fiance)

Dad opening Rachel's "thank you" gift- a three in one picture frame, all pictures of my dad & Rachel. It was such a sweet going away gift, I think it made my dad tear up a little bit.

Another Jimmy & Rachel picture

Rachel & My mom

Wedding Day

2011-05-26T19:23:00.000-07:00

Back at the beginning of May we celebrated the Josh (Jake's brother) & Dani's big wedding day here in Abilene, it was a fun day for all. They had the ceremony and reception here at the local Hilton Hotel in their banquet room, it was a small, but intimate celebration of their marriage. Both Jake & I were in the wedding me as a bridesmaid and Jake as the best man so that would be why I have zero pictures from the ceremony and their photographer is still working on his pictures. So everything I have is from the reception that followed, we had a delicious dinner and drinks, toasts from the best man and maid of honor, cake, lots of socializing and dancing to fun music. Although it was a stressful couple of days before the wedding everything came together like it most always does at weddings and everyone was happy especially the newlyweds, who were all that really mattered on that day.

Sammy devouring the left over wedding cake

Josh Hopkins having his fair share of wedding cake

Sammy & Josh Hopkins enjoying the left over wedding cake all to themselves

more fun dancing at the reception

Apparently they were just a little bit thirsty

Tea & Water...anyone need a drink?

Josh & Dani feeding each other their wedding cake

reception dance time

Mr. & Mrs. Joshua Nassar's first dance as a married couple

LOVE this picture of Jake & his Aunt Sally hugging each other after Jake had given his best man toast to the new couple, he always has a way to make the crowd cry!

Jake & his brother hugging after Jake's best man toast

Jake giving his best man toast

Such a great picture of Jake & his Aunt Sally at the reception :)

the newly married couple enjoying their dinner at the reception

Sandi (Jake's mom) and her best friend Cindy at the reception

Andrea and I at the reception...miss this girl so much!!

Greg & Josh Hopkins fixing their plates in the buffet line at the reception

Jeff Paxton having some punch

Greg, Josh Hopkins, & I fixing our plates in the buffet line at the reception

Jeff Paxton modeling for the camera

Stephen & Andrea Rogers at the reception

Dani's bridal bouquet

one of the bridesmaids bouquets

another picture of Dani's bridal bouquet

the wedding cake

the top half of the centerpieces that were on every guest table at the reception

the guest table centerpieces at the reception using white hydrangeas, gold ting ting, orange/pink rose petals and rose heads along with green and white roses

a cute arrangement outside by the guest sign in book with orange, green, and white roses with a little bit of gold ting ting

The candy bar with favor boxes with their initial on them for all the guests to take home a box of candy

Wedding Week

2011-05-26T18:16:00.000-07:00

Back at the beginning of May Jake's brother, Josh and his fiance Dani got married here in Abilene so we had Jake's Aunt Sally all the way from Boston, Massachusetts and his Nanny from Norfolk, Virginia. We were very blessed to have gotten to spend an entire week with family in preperation for the wedding that weekend. Jake & I absolutely loved having family staying with us, I always love being a hostess especially to family! Other than doing things to get ready for the wedding that weekend we also got to alot of really fun things with Jake's family that we never get to see since we are all so far away from each other. As you can tell in the pictures below we all had alot of fun playing Xbox Kinect, eating, laughing, talking and catching up since the last time we saw them was our wedding last March 2010 so alot had happened since then. Since Jake was able to have most of the week off from work he got to spend alot of time with his family which we both really enjoyed. Later in the week was when the stress began to set in for everyone, more on that later.

Jake of course winning whatever game we were playing on xbox kinect

Aunt Sally vs. Jake at xbox kinect

Josh & Dani (the now newlyweds) in this picture soon to be husband and wife

crazy lately

2011-05-26T17:00:00.000-07:00

This will be one of a few posts about what has been going on lately because it has been CRAZY! So for starters over Easter weekend we had a huge hailstorm which damaged both of our cars, but more on our new Camry that we had owned for maybe two weeks at the time, so sad :( So other than a lovely big hailstorm on Easter it was a very enjoyable weekend spent with family. We had such an awesome Easter church service at our church and spent lunch with at parents house and hung out there for the afternoon, then later having dinner with Jake's family. There aren't alot of pictures from Easter weekend but I did catch a few.

Big Duke & my dad on Easter Sunday

the twins-a.k.a. Dad & Christopher

Duke & Dad playing :)

update on medical stuff

2011-05-10T17:05:00.000-07:00

So aside from having a full week of vacation being able to spend with Jake's family for the preperation and celebration of Josh (Jake's brother) & Dani's wedding this past weekend we had some more medical stuff going on with me that I thought I would update about. After a week full of hanging out with the family, getting everything ready for the wedding, we all were absolutely exhausted on sunday. But we started out Sunday with a nice family breakfast at the Hilton Hotel where the wedding took place and where alot of the guests were staying at. After having breakfast we finished cleaning and taking all our wedding supplies out of the ceremony/reception room and headed home to hang out and relax for the afternoon.

Soon after sitting down to relax with the family Jake & I noticed I was starting to have some staring spells (small epileptic seizures) and Jake thought it would be a good idea for me to lay down and rest for awhile since it was also taking me quite awhile to respond to any questions or remarks being geared towards me. So I remember him telling me I needed to lay down and rest for awhile and then telling me I was having some brain fogs a.k.a. small epileptic seizures but remember nothing beyond that. According to Jake he turned to look at me and my pupils had dilated huge and soon after I started to fall over when he caught me so that I didn't hit my head on anything. After that happened my eyes were rolling back in my head, my body was very tense and going through convulsions, when I also was biting my tongue very hard. Soon after someone who was there called the paramedics and I was soon loaded up in the ambulance and taken to Henderick Emergency Room where I was met by Jake, my parents, and Talmadge(my boss, who also just happens to be a neurosurgeon at that particular hospital.)

While at the hospital I was seen by the ER doctor, Dr. Higgins, my new neurologist Dr. Landfield, along with Dr. Talmadge Trammell. I was given an iv of a high dose of Keppra (my anti-seizure medication) and also given a few blood tests to verify that everything else involved was ok. Since my last seizure was just about a month ago everyone seems to be pretty concerned since I had a pretty bad one on sunday even though I was the anti-seizure medication so we are weaning me off of the Keppra that I am currently on and switching to something different called Lamictel which will hopefully work better. The reason this particular seizure on Sunday seemed so much worse to me was because I couldn't remember what day it was, that it was even a holiday at all, I was much much more out of it than I was last month when I had my other seizures, and also took alot longer and alot more effort to process and especially respond to comments, remarks, and questions made towards me. I don't remember anything from right before the seizure happened, when the paramedics came, when the seizure was going on, and not a whole after it all happened.

I went to my diabetes doctor today to make sure there was nothing going on with my blood sugar numbers or medicines that may have caused the seizure on sunday but he said all is good and that he feels good about the medication I am on for my blood sugar numbers. My doctor did take away another medicine that he added last week, glymeperide that was making my blood sugar too low like in the 50s. I am also on 4 pills of Folic Acid once a day from my neurologist. I am scheduled to see my neurologist the week after next on the 24th. For now I think I should be all set with medications unless something else happens, which I am hoping doesn't happen.

I do know that this is going to be a very low key week with no work except friday night, lots of resting, and now some of my family coming in town this weekend for my cousin rachel's graduation.

Later this week I promise to update the blog with a big wedding week post full of lots of pictures...

Latest Neurologist Update

2011-04-22T21:00:00.000-07:00

So today my mom and Jake took me back to the neurologist in Brownwood since I cannot drive and we got ALOT of informative news from the doctor while we were there. I had to go back to the neurologist after they read my EEG report from last week since they found some abnormalties in it that needed to be discussed and treated. So today he really described what it was exactly that they found on my EEG I had done last week. According to the doctor I have a genetic form of Epilepsy that I was most likely born with and have had for all 24 years of my life and is just now being diagnosed because of some things that have happened. Basically what my form of Epilepsy is instead of having random seizures throughout the form of Epilepsy I have causes my brain to have seizure activity all the time. The seizure activity that I have starts at the center of my brain and goes all over my brain often causing brain fogging, confusion, processing problems, staring seizures, zoning out, issues processing and taking in information in academic situations such as school starting at a very young age. But this particular type of Epilepsy cause also cause real actual big seizures like most people think of with the unconsciousness, convulsions, jerking, body tensing up, and other physical evidences of a seizure which is why I have had several episodes like this throughout my life, the most recent one being just a few weeks ago while I was out of town in Beaumont.

Luckily this is a very manageable type of Epilepsy unless my body doesn't take well to the medications that can be prescribed to people who suffer from this type of Epilepsy. After talking with the doctor for quite some time today our first plan of treatment is going to be trying out taking a medicine called Keppra once a day for twelve days and then to have a blood test to check the levels of the medicine and then decide upon a dosage increase or change in medication depending on side affects and stuff. I am also going to have to have another EEG this time next month to see how well the medicine is working to decrease all the seizure activity that is going on in my brain. Another big thing that we talked about with the doctor is driving while trying to get this type of seizure disorder under control. The state law of Texas is for seizure patients is no driving for six months, but my neurologist said it just all depends on how the medicine works with my body and what my blood tests and other EEGs show about the seizure activity in my brain. So I could very likely be looking at not driving for six months but it is also very possible that it could only be three months without driving. Another big factor was being pregnant, being Epeleptic, and being on anti-seizure medication while pregnant and all the risks and decisions that come along with that. I was very happy to hear there are no real restrictions when it comes to this, except maybe some extra caution and monitoring, possible change of medication, maybe seeing a specialist who does Epilepsy and pregnancy, and just listening to my body and my doctors which I was SO HAPPY to hear!

So all in all it was a pretty good appointment full of alot of informative and answers that honestly make me really wonder about my last twenty four years of life and specific episodes that have happened to me when really all along this was the probelm and no one ever knew. Most people have absolutely no idea how much better it all makes me feel to know that all along there was a reason behind all the struggles I went through all my years in school and that it wasn't just me being stupid in school. Aside from all that I am making it my personal goal through this whole experience with this condition and diabetes to be as positive as I can possibly be, to find the blessing and lesson in all of this, and most importantly to really learn from this and adapt my life in the best way from this whole experience.

Hope this update is helpful and I hope everyone has a wonderful rest of their long Easter weekend!! I will update again hopefully with pictures this time at the end of this long weekend.

"For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Letting Go

2011-04-21T08:11:00.000-07:00

Letting go and learning to give up control is most definitely the HARDEST thing I have ever done and is something I am for sure still learning how to live life without being in control. As if I didn't know already I have definitely learned in the last month or two that I am a HUGE control freak! But there is a small part of me right now that is feeling at ease, peaceful, and so much relief, which I know is such a sign that we are doing the right thing for our lives right now.

Last week when my mom & I went to my first neurologist appointment and he thought everything seemed fine and didn't expect to find anything or to see me back again. But naturally I left his office accepting what he said because he is a smart doctor who knows so much more than I do about the brain. But at the same time I had this small part of me inside that just kept saying this isn't the end, you are going to be back at this office again, and I just didn't feel at ease when I left his office in Brownwood last week. So when I got the call on Tuesday afternoon from his office I was not very surprised. All along before my appointment last week I had been praying so hard that God would give some sign of what we were supposed to be doing as far as moving to Houston at the end of this summer and what HE wanted us to do. I was also praying that God would show me a specific reason either way...whether he wanted us to stay in Abilene or to move to Houston. And it is amazing what truly happens when you pray with your heart's strongest desire.

Throughout the last week it has become increasingly apparent that God wants Jake & I to stay here in Abilene for whatever the reason. I honestly feel like He is using my health issues right now to show us what is important in life and that using all this medical stuff going on right now to say "I want you here!" So we are doing our best to let go and give God all the control because I know what He can do is SO SO beyond my imagination and comprehension. I am learning to praise God even in the midst of stressful and frustrating time because I know He has a plan through all the hard times in my life that is far better than whatever I was trying to plan out.

Always remember Jeremiah 29:11...it is playing on repeat in my brain these days!!

Taking A Step Backwards....

2011-04-19T21:06:00.000-07:00

So like I said in my last post about my appointment last week with my neurologist my MRI came back totally clean, looking perfectly normal. My EEG I couldn't exactly say the same thing for, first of all when I was at the neurologist last week he couldn't read the images or report because apparently you can't read EEG reports from a CD disk drive and the hospital had not sent my report to his office yet (as of last week.) So needless to say I was going to have to wait to hear the results from my EEG, he said he would only call me about the EEG results if there was a problem, in other words I would not hear from him if everything was completely normal. Well after getting a complete clean bill of health last week I had moved on with life, I had my driving priveleges given back, went back to work with all my sweet kiddos, and life was getting back to normal or at least that was the impression I got.

Until today around one o'clock I got a call from a 325 phone number which the Abilene area code, but I didn't recognize the phone number, but assumed it was some doctor's office calling since I had alot of doctors calling me lately. So as I answered the phone call I quickly realized who it was and why they were calling. It was in fact Dr. Boren's (the neurologist's office) calling to notify me that my EEG results came back abnormal and he found some seizure activity in my brain and needed to see me back in his office this week to discuss what is going on, treatment plans, risk factors, questions, etc... Well like most doctor's offices I could tell they didn't want me knowing alot over the phone and wanted to wait to tell me everything in person at my appointment so I proceeded to call my boss, whose husband is a very good neurosurgeon here in Abilene, whom I had seen initially to have all my tests ordered and get my referral to this neurosurgeon in Brownwood. So my boss/very good friend tells me that her husband who had read the EEG report and who had spoken to my neurologist proceeds to explain that they have detected that there is some type of Epilepsy activity going on in my brain and that all this may explain my past medical history of seizure episodes and that we needed to figure everything out so we can what all needs to be done.

So as of right now I am currently taking a step backwards from where I thought I was. My appointment with the neurologist is on Friday morning in Brownwood so we will find what exactly is going on and hopefully some more details of what all this means exactly and what our treatment plan is going to be. All of our moving to Houston plans have seriously been put on a strong hold because of everything going on since it is very possible that I will be put on anti seizure medication and have my driving priveleges taken away from at least six months. We are really really praying right now that we can see God's plan for us right now since it is very clear and obvious that he is closing alot of doors with the moving to Houston plan and instead giving us very clear reasons about staying here in Abilene and instead opening other doors here. But it still is just very hard to give up all control, have patience, and be at ease with everything going on right now. We know God has such a great plan for our lives, but are just trying to see what that plan is and receive His guidance, signs, and blessings instead of focusing on the negative. So we would really appreciate any and all prayers, thoughts, encouragement, and advice/suggestions anyone out there has to offer!

Promise to update when I know some more information!!

doctor visits & results

2011-04-18T11:46:00.000-07:00

Last week I had all my doctor appointments after my recent medical situation, Monday was the endochrinologist, Wednesday were my MRI & EEG tests at the hospital, & Thursday was my neurologist appointment in Brownwood. I already wrote about my diabetes update I got from the endochrinologist on Monday and I'm trying my hardest to get my blood sugar lower and hoping this new medicine is doing its job to help. But Wednesday I had to go to the hospital to have my MRI and EEG done, which was very interesting, also something I had never done before so I can now check that off my "Life to do list." Although Jake & I were there for about four hours everything went fine, I was a little worried about the MRI because of being a little bit weird about being in small, closed spaces, but I was fine since it was only of my brain I didn't have to go all the way into the MRI tube which was a relief. But the EEG was a totally different story, also had never done that, but was a very interesting experience. First of all it is quite a gross test to have done because they put all the paste type stuff all in your hair so that the wire things you have to be hooked up to and afterwards you REALLY want to wash your hair! But once you are all hooked up you basically just take a nap on a quite comfy memory foam bed while they flash all kinds of strobe lights in your face and stuff and then you wake up with a REALLY BAD headache or at least I did.

So on Thursday since Jake couldn't get off of work to take me to the neurologist in Brownwood my mom took me. The neurologist I was referred to by the family I work for was extremely laid back and nice and helped me make some sense of what has been happening to me. Although he was not able to read my EEG report because of some kind of disc error he looked at MRI images and said everything on my MRI came back completely normal and said there is absolutely nothing wrong with my brain at all. About the EEG report he was going to wait on the report from the hospital and call me if there was anything wrong there, but he suspected there will be nothing on that either. According to the neurologist the reason for my fainting/seizure spell a few weeks ago was probably a combination of a few different things that all seemed to run together. He said my body was probably more at risk for things like this to happen because there was a strong infection in it, alot stronger than I realized at the time which caused me to react to the antibiotic shot that was given to me. And when I got dizzy and fainted I most likely had a seizure because I fainted, which apparently can happen alot to some people, he said it is their body's reaction to fainting and losing consciousness for some period of time. But all in all everything is great now, no brain problems, I got cleared to drive, and got a perfectly clean bill of health and life can go on now! I cannot thank everyone enough for all of the sweet thoughts, messages, and prayers sent my way during all this medical stuff. I feel so very grateful to have so many people in my life that love me and have supported me through all this. There is no way I could have gone through all this without all the prayers, help, and support I have gotten from everyone!

Now that everything is good and over with life can go on and we are now back to trying to make a really big decision for our family and could use all the prayers for God's guidance. Although things are about to get really busy around here with lots of different family stuff going on in the next few weeks we could really use God's guidance in our lives right now!!!

Endochrinologist Appointment

2011-04-11T19:35:00.000-07:00

Today I FINALLY had my first endochrinologist appointment since being officially diagnosed with Type 1.5 Diabetes. Visiting with the doctor has made me feel alot better especially since the doctor was able to really answer so many of my questions. I think I am starting to get used to being diabetic, but after my doctor's appointment today there is still alot that is going to have to change in order for me to get complete control over this disease and to get my blood sugars to go down. I was encouraged by some during today's appointment, for example finding out that my doctor doesn't want me to lose a bunch of weight like I thought he was wanting me to do. Also very encouraged to hear that at some point after getting everything under control with my blood sugars, I will be able to eat some fruit, just in very controlled moderation. As of right now my diet to keep my blood sugars under control consists of meat, vegetables, some whole grains, cheese, nuts, and thats pretty much it. I have cut off most all carbs, refined sugar products, refined white flour products, fruit. I also try and limit my carb intake to about 30-45 grams of carbs per day. One big change the doctor did decide to make today was have me stop taking my Metformin twice a day like I had been doing for the last month or so and started me on a new medication called Janumet. The new medication, Janumet is a new combination drug for diabetes of sitaglipitin and metformin. I will be on this new medication for the next month or two unless I encounter problems that my body isn't working well with this particular medicine. I also have be keeping track of my blood sugar numbers which I already am doing and send my numbers for the week in about once a week so that my doctor knows where I stand. I was very pleased that my weight and blood pressure were very well along with my standard diabetic exam to check for any progression or complications. I was very happy to know that I don't at this point have to be on insulin shots, he did though tell me if at any time soon or in the future that I do become pregnant I will not be able to take this new medication, but will be able to take Metformin and will have to take insulin shots throughout the pregnancy along with extra careful monitoring. Overall I felt good about my first appointment with my endochrinologist and feel comfortable with where I stand with my diabetes and the changes that have to be made so that it is under control and my numbers are where my doctor and I want them. Now that is one appointment down and two more to go so far this week. I guess you can't be dealing with medical issues without having some kind of medical insurance problems to figure out. I am supposed to be talking with the doctor's office early tomorrow morning to finish figuring all this out so my other two appointments this week can still happen. I have my mri and eeg tests on wednesday as long the insurance stuff goes as planned. And lastly have to neurologist appointment on thursday at 12:30 in Brownwood so we will see how it all goes. I'll be updating about everything going on this week.

our new car!!!

2011-04-08T09:41:00.000-07:00

So after many days of searching for a new car that was right for us and many deals that went wrong we FINALLY found a great car for us!! We decided a little while ago that it was about time to sell our old explorer, the car Jake has been driving to work and back home and replace it with something newer that gets much better gas mileage that we could take on trips and such. Ever since we got married I started driving Jake's car, 2008 Chrysler Aspen because of the size of it, I need room for three carseats for three precious girls that accompany me most places I go. So about two weeks ago we went to the bank and refinanced my car and got approved to buy another car and we were so excited since this was first time as a married couple to get some kind of loan and purchase something new as a married couple. So off we went car shopping, sounds exciting right!? That is exactly what we thought and it was at first, but after looking and the dealership price not matching what the bank thought the car is worth and what they wanted to finance it for, this happened a couple of different times and we were beginning to feel somewhat discouraged about buying a car. The car we ended up buying below, 2009 Toyota Camry Hybrid we had found and test drove early on in search, but were turned down on it because the dealership couldn't match the price the bank wanted to finance it for. But guess who reduced the price on the camry this weekend? Yes that's right the dealership reduced the price on the car so we went and talked to the bank again and went back and forth a little with the dealership and the bank for one last time and finally they were able to agree on a price and we got to bring the car home last night!! I'm so happy to be finished with that whole process it was exciting, frustrating, and stressful all at the same time! But we are so happy with the decision we made and love the new car! The most important thing to me was that Jake loved the car because for the most part he would be the one driving it and since he had been driving the old explorer he definitely deserved something much newer, nicer, and more luxurious feeling. The 2009 Toyota Camry Hybrid gets amazing gas mileage which is really something we were looking for, its 34 mpg in the city and 41 on the highway. So far we are loving it, although I haven't gotten to drive it since I'm not allowed to drive right now, but maybe I will get to drive it one day. Gotta say there is nothing like having a new car, especially that smell, love that new car smell!!!

update on doctor's appointments

2011-04-07T19:01:00.000-07:00

So today I had my first appointment with the neurosurgeon to be evaluated so that I can be referred to a neurologist to figure out what is going on. Everything with the neurosurgeon went good, nothing abnormal that he saw or noticed but that the tests would show more and the neurologist would know more and talk about everything more in depth. So I am waiting on the hospital to call me and set up an appointment for my EEG test and my MRI test which will probably take place early next week. I am also waiting on the neurologist's office to call me about my appointment with them late next week, probably Thursday or Friday. In the mean time we are working on getting my pediatric records from my old pediatrician when I was little and the records from a pediatric neurologist that I was referred to when I was 3. In other news, I was scheduled for about a month to see my endochrinologist today, but they called me on monday to cancel my appointment. But long story short I ended up having to call my regular physician to have her jump through some hoops for me to get my appointment rescheduled as soon as possible seeing as how I am in an almost emergency situation so needless to say I am now at the very top of the list of appointments to be rescheduled next week, most likely on Wednesday. I also had an appointment earlier this week with the ENT doctor about the cellulitis/staph infection on my forehead and had a CT scan done on my face/sinus area. The doctor confirmed that it was not a deeper infection in the sinus cavity or anywhere else, but strictly a skin infection. The ENT doctor also wrote me an extension to take the antibiotics I am already on for my infection just for a longer period of time. The really strong, powerful antibiotics I am taking right now, 800 mg. Bactrum are what are making me feel the worst. They have been completely draining me altogether, weak, tired, big loss in appetite, and have just left me with absolutely NO ENERGY at all. I have been really tired at different times in my life and even sick and weak, but this antibiotics has left me feeling like I have never felt before, I cannot even explain the exhaustion. But I definitely counting down the days until I am off of these antibiotics. Once I get more updates from doctors about the situation right now I will update on here again!

my "exciting" weekend

2011-04-06T16:05:00.001-07:00

So this past weekend my mom & I left on Thursday to head down to Beaumont for my cousin's bridal shower that we were hosting and let me just tell you in advance what a weekend it was!! So for starters late Thursday afternoon my mom & I left to make the long drive down to Houston to spend the night with my sister and Matt before we headed to Beaumont on Friday. All the way there I kept having this sneaky feeling that I couldn't shake that I had forgotten something rather important back in Abilene. So right as we pulled into the Chick Fil A parking lot to get out for dinner and a bathroom break Jake calls me to let me know that I had left my shower dress hanging on the door in our apartment. Yes that is right, the dress I had thought about and purchased an entire month ago, which meant I would be wearing that dress to another spring event and obviously not the shower. So TARGET here I come!! But anyways we finally got to my sister & Matt's house about 10ish that night and hung out and talked for awhile and then went to bed since Friday was going to be an early and long day.

Our Friday started out exciting, confusing, and quite dramatic to say the least, which now I realize that should have been a sign for what was to come for the rest of the weekend. Upon waking up around 8 Jenna's alarm on the house was beeping like it had low battery but it turns out there was really no way for the battery to be replaced, which also meant we couldn't open any of the house doors to go outside or leave for that matter. But guess who magically forgets that small little detal and decides to open the back door and let Bailey (their dog) outside, YES that would be my mom!!! And off goes the loud alarm and it keeps on going and we three girls know nothing about how to set it off since their alarm system on their house is not monitored in turn meaning there is no code to type in when it is armed, big problem right there. So after pressing many different buttons and combinations, calling the alarm company which by the way did us no good, somehow Jenna and my mom figured out how to completely unplug the entire alarm system that was hooked up in the attic which finally did the trick. So after all that drama we finally left the house and headed to Target so I could find a dress to buy for the shower on Saturday, my mom had to buy shoes to wear to the shower, and I'm pretty sure all of us bought wrapping paper and cards for our shower gifts. Once we finished at Target we were on our way to Beaumont, once we arrived we had lunch at Jason's Deli at Gateway and surprisingly ran into the Mason clan, then proceeded to run our shower errands to Sam's, HEB, & went to the church to unload all of our shower stuff. That afternoon and evening until late we arranged the church the way we wanted it for the shower, got tables set up, cooked food, did flower arrangements, and got everything ready for Saturday morning.

So early Saturday morning we got up early to do our hair and threw on some clothes and headed up to the church to start preparing the rest of the food and put all the finishing details on everything for the shower. Soon after getting everything set up and ready it was time for family and friends to start showing up to enjoy the shower. We had the shower at the church that I grew up in which is always weird to go back to. The bridal shower was set at 11 am so we did a yummy lunch menu of chicken salad with crisp little toasts, potato salad, bruschetta with little toasts, chick fil a chicken nuggets, chicken pasta salad, with fruit salad, chocolate covered strawberries, wedding cake cookies, & mini chocolate & strawberry cupcakes for dessert. It turned out really cute and everything looked so springy and fun! Hannah(the bride to be) got lots of good wedding fun stuff and seemed to enjoy the shower so I think all in all it was quite a success.

After the shower was when everything let loose, Friday night I discovered this bump on my forehead that was quite large, painful, and seemed to be infected. After we had gotten back to my Aunt Monica's house after working at the church I took a bath and soon after realized my face was starting to swell quite bad and had me somewhat worried. So I decided I should show my mom & Aunt Monica and see what they thought I should do. They seemed to be very concerned and thought I should ice it through the night so I did just that. The next day I woke up not feeling very well, which isn't that abnormal for me since I'm not a morning person, but also because I'm diabetic. But my face was still swollen and the bump was still there, red and large and in charge and extremely painful. So we all decided that I should go to the walk in clinic there in Beaumont to get some antibiotics or at least see what was going on. So I borrow my mom's car while they are finishing cleaning up at the shower and go to the walk in clinic to see what is going on. Once I finally see the doctor he tells me I have a cellulitis on my forehead that is infected and that he wants to give me an antibiotic shot and a prescription for some antibiotics to take for a week. He also tells me that the infection is serious mostly because it is so close to my brain and eyes and also because I am diabetic and things take alot longer to heal. So next the nurse comes into the exam room and proceeds to give me the antibiotic shot in my hip/butt area and because it is antibiotic shot it takes alot longer because of all the medicine that has to be pushed into my body. But right as she finishes giving me the shot and putting the band aid on I start to feel a little dizzy so I ask her for a cup of water. After telling her that she tells me to sit down in this chair and she would go get me a cup of water. And the last thing I remember is sitting there and things starting to spin and getting very dizzy and at that point no one was in the room with me. I think at least a half an hour later I woke up from having blacked out and apparently having a seizure. All I remember was being very confused and upset, I saw blood everyone because I had fallen and busted my chin open and cut my head and was extremely pale and weak. While sitting there with the doctors office staff, they take my blood sugar, are asking me questions, and then I black out and have another seizure. A little while later my aunt Monica and cousin Rachel show up and at this point I am very scared and soon to follow are the paramedics to take me to the emergency room at St. Elizabeth hospital.

Once I get to the hospital my mom, sister, cousin and fiance, aunt are there waiting for me. I needed stitches in my chin and some blood tests run to make sure everything was ok especially with my diabetes. Luckily everything turned out normal and I would proceed additional medical tests and help when I back home to Abilene. I got a different prescription for my infection on my forehead, which is a much much stronger one and is completely draining me of everything and making me so so exhausted and nauseous. After leaving the hospital all I wanted to do was talk to Jake since he was in Abilene and being so scared I just wanted to hear his voice and talk to him. After that we headed out to nana's house for a family birthday party and dinner, it was a fun time, but I was pretty out of it most of the time. We headed back to Jenna & Matt's house that night, went to get my prescription, and headed to their house. My mom & I left the next morning to drive back to Abilene which was a rough trip in the car with both my eyes being almost swollen shut and just feeling so beat up. But we finally made it back to Abilene which made me feel all the better. I'll update tomorrow on my current medical situation with all the doctors appointments and tests I have going on lately since this little occurance. And sorry this post is FOREVER long!!

the dessert table another angle of our precious cupcakes & wedding cake cookies

my sister iced the pink ones & I did the chocolate

the main food table

here we had: little toasts, potato salad, & chicken salad

beautiful orange & yellow arrangement nana made

hannah & monica

the gift table area with cute umbrella/fruit arrangement

the beverage area: peach lemonade, raspberry tea, & water with another umbrella arrangement

another table to display pictures of the bride & groom to be and a cute bud vase arrangement

my mom found this idea for an arrangement in a magazine and I thought it was so cute & so neat since you can do it so many different ways

sweet Adley Ann & Jenna

Adley Ann & Elijah

the bride to be & rachel (maid of honor) opening gifts

more gift opening

the whole hosting staff of the shower (from left to right): Jennifer, Beverly, Jenna, Hannah, Nana, Aunt Joyce, me, my mom, & Katha

late update on March

2011-04-05T08:04:00.000-07:00

So I didn't do terrible at updating on March but I definitely wasn't the best, but I do have a few good excuses. As anyone reading this can probably tell I have been rather preoccupied with lots of medical stuff involving my recent diagnosis of diabetes, but I'm hoping to be able to update all that more after this week. But good news is this post has alot of pictures in it, the order they are in is from most recent to older. Over spring break we spent alot of time with my family, my sister came in town to spend the week with us and we enjoyed a great week together as a family. Both Jake & I had to work quite a bit but still got to spend alot of time with my family while my sister was in town. During spring break week my mom, sister, and I did a little shopping, alot of preparation and test cooking for one of my cousin's bridal showers we are hosting. Also during the week my parents did alot of yard work mainly building their second outdoor patio. We all went and tried out our new self serve yogurt shop here in town, we actually went there twice during the week we spent together, once after dinner as a family and again one afternoon the girls and I met them there for some afternoon frozen yogurt and then went to play outside at mom and dad's house. Earlier during the first weekend in March Jake & I made plans to go out of town to San Antonio to celebrate our one year anniversary since we knew we wouldn't be able to get out of town on the actual date. I had bought us tickets to see our first broadway show together as a Christmas gift to him since he loves Wicked and has always wanted to see it. We started off our weekend by driving to San Marcos to do some shopping at the big outlet malls there, we got alot of cute stuff while we were there and just enjoyed being out together. After that we drove to San Antonio went out to get a quick bite to eat and then checked into our hotel that had an awesome whirlpool hot tub in the living room, which was amazing! On Saturday in San Antonio we did some more shopping at La Cantera in San Antonio, went out to lunch at Pei Wei (Jake's favorite), and then went and relaxed at our hotel before we had to get ready for the show that night. We meant to go out to dinner before the show but ended up having to drive around downtown San Antonio at least 30 minutes looking for some place to park. By the time we found a place to park and found a restaurant that wasn't completely packed it was almost time to go pick up our tickets and go to the show. So we decided we should just eat a little something at a sandwich/coffee shop across the street from the theatre and it turned out to be the BEST panini I have ever eaten in my life and then afterward we decided to get a better bite to eat after the show was over. We absolutely LOVED the show and cannot wait to get to see more broadway shows together in the future. We checked out of our hotel on Sunday and took the route home through Austin to eat lunch and enjoy a little time wandering around looking at the capitol area and taking lots of pictures, such a beautiful area!! After leaving Austin and stopping at our favorite TCBY we headed home for Abilene to pick up our precious puppy from the vet and went to hang out a little with my parents. Up next is update on this weekend....

the twins (a.k.a. Dad & Christopher) mom & Jenna working hard on building mom & dad's second outdoor patio on spring break

more hard working on the patio

dad the giant shoveling crushed granite

doesn't he look excited to be working so hard?

more shoveling

sweet Maggie & Claire swinging at mom & dad's house

baby Elizabeth swinging

she's so pretty

I thought this was such a cute picture of Claire

mom & Elizabeth

maggie swinging

Jake at the capitol, taking a picture with W

my picture with W

beautiful ceiling at the capitol, love all the detail the building has

outside picture of the capitol in Austin

after the show picture with the Wicked poster

our first broadway show together, Wicked in San Antonio at the Majestic Theatre downtown

update on being diabetic

2011-03-14T12:13:00.000-07:00

So I won't say that things with being diabetic have gotten easier or better, but I am definitely learning as I go in the hopes that things will get easier! Since my last post about being diagnosed with diabetes I have been back to the doctor, been set up to go to a diabetic nutritionist class, and been set up to see an endochrinologist, along been taking a stronger dose of the metformin my doctor prescribed almost two weeks ago. I started out taking the metformin once a day and checking my blood sugar before I eat breakfast in the morning and before I go to bed at night, but was still getting really high numbers. So my doctor has me now taking the metformin twice a day and checking my blood sugar four times a day, before I eat breakfast, 2 hours after I eat breakfast, 2 hours after I eat lunch, and before I go to bed at night, and also journaling everything I eat and what my blood sugar numbers are. I got set up to go to a diabetic nutritionist class on thursday from 8-4 and thankfully Jake was able to trade shifts with someone so he is able to come with my as my "guest." I'm so glad he is coming with me to this class, one because I think it will be very informative for both of us since he is trying really hard to be healthier and lose weight and also since it is so long I didn't want to go by myself, and I'm just so glad to have him there by my side for things like this!

I don't all that much about this diabetic nutrition class quite yet except that it is rather long, I will be set up with a personalized meal plan that I need to stick to, along with blood sugar goals, get a individual appointment with a nutritionist, will have a foot exam, and that they will feed us lunch since it is so long. As of right now I have SO MANY questions and really still don't understand alot about this disease and my particular situation so I know this class will probably help me out so much. I also found out last week at the doctor that I am for sure type 2 diabetic, which isn't good neither bad. Another thing my doctor did labs on me for was to find out if my pancreas is working like a type one diabetic or normal and we found out that my pancreas does produce insulin normally, but that my body has something called insulin resistance, which is why I was feeling the diabetic symptoms. In other words, my pancreas makes and produces the insulin like any other person, but my body and organs don't receive it and use it like they should which is why I am diabetic and why my numbers are so out of whack. So it was good to know that my pancreas is working normally, that makes me feel alot better for some reason.

The worst news of the week is probably knowing that I'm not going to be able to have very much fruit at all, which is something I survive on, I love fruit so much, so that was some pretty depressing news. But I'm hoping if I start to get my blood sugar numbers lowered maybe I can allow myself at least one piece of fruit a day as long as my numbers are much lower than they are now. The weird part is that I could deal without sugar, desserts, cookies, pies, cakes, and all that kinda sweet dessert stuff, but if you allowed me fruit that would be enough for me so we will see what happens. Obviously my health is most important, even more than my love for fruit haha, so right now I'm trying to really focus on getting control over these numbers and really take control of my health like I have never done before.

The best part out of all this bad medical news lately is probably seeing how much all my family and friends care and how much they are concerned for me. I cannot explain how many messages on facebook, text messages, and phone calls I have gotten over the last two weeks about how sorry everyone is, how many people are praying for, and all the support I have out there for me. It definitely puts things in life in their perspective for me to know what is the most important and really just how super important your health is and how much we all take our health for granted. I certainly hope we can all use this situation upon us to an advantage and all really take control over our health and live longer healthier lives. I'll write more this week about updates with doctors and such. But in non-diabetic news I am really looking forward to this week, it is spring break for everyone in abilene and my sister is coming in town to visit for the week since she has the same spring break as we do and I am really looking forward to spending some fun time with her and my mom this week. I absolutely LOVE times like this, they are just the greatest! Anyways I hope everyone has an awesome spring break week!!

Being Diabetic

2011-03-03T13:41:00.000-08:00

First off, sorry there will no pictures in this post, all about my most recent news at the doctor, being diagnosed with diabetes. But I'll back up to about middle of January when all this started. So about mid January Sam's Club was offering free health screenings for members so naturally I went just to see what all my numbers were like definitely not expecting what I got. They did my blood pressure, blood sugar, body mass index, and cholesterol, my blood pressure was good, body mass index was good, but my blood sugar and cholesterol was much too high and was very concerning. That particular day my blood sugar was 295 and my cholesterol was 280, this was about 1:00 in the afternoon with only eating breakfast much earlier that morning, I had not had any lunch or other snacks when these tests were taken so naturally the nurse that did was a little worried and told me I needed be following up with this with my doctor. So I decided to make an appointment and to start watching what my sugar intake was like.

Fast forward to a few weeks later going to my doctor's appointment I tell her everything, my specific numbers and a few strange symptoms that I have been dealing with such as excessive thirst, extreme hunger, somewhat more tired than usual, and very weak, & nauseous. So my doctor decided to run some blood tests to figure out what is going on and why some of my numbers were so high. So now fast forward to yesterday when I went back to the doctor to talk with my doctor about my test results. As I sat in the doctor's office waiting for her to come into the exam room I cannot really explain it, but somehow through waiting on my test results I just knew I was going to have diabetes, I don't know I just had such a strange intuitive feeling about this. So when she finally came into the exam room I could tell by the look on her face what the test results were. She said I do have diabetes, my blood sugar was way way too high especially for someone my age and my weight. Most likely I have type 2 diabetes, but it could also be a combination of type 1 & type 2 diabetes, which would make it even more difficult to treat/manage. So yesterday she prescribed me with an oral medication of Metformin to take every morning and a prescription for a blood glucose monitor, lancets, & test strips to start taking my blood sugar every morning before I ate or drank anything and every night before I go to bed. She also referred me to an endochrinologist/diabetic specialist and a nutritionist who I will be seeing within the next week.

This all is very shocking, but at the same not shocking at all, I know that doesn't make alot of sense, but throughout my life I feel physically all these diabetic symptoms that have now been diagnosed have always been around at least for most of my life. It still is very intimidating, a tad scary, and a little bit nervewrecking because of knowing how much I will have to change my life. It is taking alot of getting used to when it comes pricking my fingers twice a day to check my blood sugar levels, but for now I am having Jake prick my finger because for some reason I just cannot bring myself to do it myself quite yet.

So that is my most recent physical/medical update, I will keep posting as new things come about and as I see new doctors and such...

life in February

2011-02-25T14:48:00.000-08:00

Another month going by, which was a short one, but even still like every other month it has FLOWN by. It has been a week or two since I have written anything, but life has gotten really busy lately. We finally got past all the snow and cold weather of winter 2011 and have apparently made such a fast transition into spring 2011 and let me tell you it feels WONDERFUL!! We have been enjoying time outside whenever we can since it has been so gorgeous here lately. We had an awesome valentines day, great birthday celebration for Jake, and a just busy busy lately. We have taken ALOT of pictures since getting our lovely new camera, which we LOVE, so as you can see there are alot more pictures on this blog, hopefully it will be much more enjoyable. Hope you enjoy the pictures!!

My beautiful peridot ring, my awesome husband got me for valentines/anniversary gift
I love it so so much!!

sweet Claire on the slide while playing outside the other day

practing a little bit of baseball in preparation for baseball season coming, WE CAN'T WAIT!!

baby Elizabeth swinging...her newest favorite thing to do!

gymnast Maggie doing her tricks for the camera

silly Miles hanging out

baby Chloe standing up and playing

beautiful flower arrangement at Lisa's house, most likely from Valentines day, but I thought they were gorgeous and love how the colors in picture turned out!

Claire & Duke playing at my parent's house the other night

we took all the girls to go play at a nearby park the other evening, sweet Elizabeth playing in the tunnel

Maggie & Claire sliding together

LOVE this picture of Maggie, her shirt made her eyes look so so blue!!

Claire Bear in the slide

rosy cheek Maggie swinging at the park

sliding down the slide with baby Elizabeth

her ABSOLUTE favorite thing to do...she loves it & I love the way she laughs when we do this!

love the expression on her face, ha!

sweet picture with all my girls!

LOVE this picture of Elizabeth & I, she is just getting too big too fast :(

I thought this was such a pretty picture of her...she just looks so sweet, I just can't get over it!

Claire & Henry, we had a fun playdate the other day

haha, I thought this picture was hilarious, I LOVE LOVE these headbands and thought it would be funny if she wore it, makes me sad I don't have a little baby to play dress up with and put these on!!

My most recent dream come true

2011-02-11T08:53:00.000-08:00

So towards the end of our huge snowstorm of 2011 we ventured out to Best Buy after saving up ALOT of our money, playing with, researching, and finally coming to a decision on our first DSLR camera. We went so back and forth for a couple weeks on which camera was the best for us to buy, we were between this Nikon 3100 and a Canon EOS Rebel T1i, which are both really great cameras, but there were a few more features that this Nikon d3100 had that the Canon didn't and so far we have been SO pleased with our purchase. I haven't had alot of time yet to take it out on the town and experiment and play around with it, but really looking forward to that!

I cannot tell you how long I have dreamed and looked at all of these cameras and to actually have one in hand to use for whatever I want is almost surreal for me. I am so excited to get to start learning all about this camera and what it will do and photography in general, I have so much to learn, but am really looking forward to it all! I have been interested in photography for a long time, but to finally get to use this camera as a part of my interest and new hobbies is just beyond exciting! So there will definitely be LOTS more pictures on this blog due to my new toy! So I hope everyone enjoys the results :)

SNOW DAY 2011!!

2011-02-01T18:05:00.000-08:00

SNOW DAY 2011 has been such a fun one, cannot believe we are here on February 1st on our very first snow day of the winter. I know most of the north part of Texas and northern states all had snow days today, but I can assure you this is THE COLDEST weather I have ever been in, the low today was 3 degrees, with a high that never reached 20, although the weathermen predicted a high of 32. And tomorrow we have a low of 6, with a high of 17, kinda afraid all the snow is going to freeze over night and we are going to have ice problems to deal with tomorrow. I love the snow, it's so so pretty, fun to look at, and snow days are wonderful to just relax and have fun at home. Ice for me is really a different story, so much more dangerous than snow and definitely not as pretty and fun to play in. Sadly enough I didn't end up taking any of my own pictures this time it snowed, but I stole these two off my dad's facebook, I thought they were so pretty!

Jake & I did venture out to do some grocery shopping since we were running low on food in the house and since it's not supposed to get to above freezing until Friday. We went pretty early this morning to go to Sam's to do our grocery shopping, went to the post office, the bank, united(to return one item), & to target. The roads were not horrible when we left this morning to head to the grocery store and a few other errands, but by the time we got to target everything was starting to get really nasty, the snow was turning to slush because of people driving on the road and then was refreezing on the road and getting a tad bit risky out there. Our trip to Target was definitely very eventful, the parking lot was still pretty high with snow but we parked close, went into the store and did all our shopping well by the time we went back out to the car to leave our car stuck on the snow & ice so that was really fun for Jake & a really nice man who helped push the car while I drove it and FINALLY we were out of the snowy, icy Target parking lot headed home to get warm!! All in all it was such a fun day and are so glad we were both off of work on this cold day to spend together at home!! Hope everyone out there is doing their best to stay warm!

my parents house in the snow

the pretty "snow angel" at my parents house