a texas christmas

 around 1:00 pm it was time to open presents...

 (i think the books my sister and i made were a success!)

nick and shane had a blast shooting nick's bow and arrow

  and we actually ended up having a very snowy white christmas in texas after all!

who would have thought!

 we took some family pictures while we were there too.

*courtney, thanks again for doing that!*

 it's hard for all of us to take a serious pictures...

 but we finally got one!

 while we were in texas we were able to surprise these lovely ladies with a visit!

 it was so nice to see the wilson crew!

and shane and i were also able to see this beautiful woman go through the temple to prepare for her mission! it was a wonderful experience!

over all it was a fantastic christmas break even with the unexpected snow. full of games, friends, laughter, tons of driving, home made meals, high school state game at the cowboys stadium!, family time, and many memories! cant wait to visit again...i miss it already.

hello december

i'm looking forward to,

seeing christmas lights everywhere

reuniting with friends i haven't seen for awhile

watching christmas movies (elf) all month long

hearing christmas music everywhere I go

cuddling with the hubs by our christmas tree

attending a friends wedding

wrapping presents

spending time with family

watching a dear friend take her final steps to prepare for her mission

sipping hot chocolate

it's going to be a fantastic month

happy day of thanks!

i am thankful for,

a husband who loves me unconditionally,
pumpkin pie,
family. both blood and in-laws,
laughter,
friends who care,
my entertaining tv shows,
& blessings.

happy halloween.

although i'm not much of a halloween fan, i do believe the best part about the holiday is the candy corn and other chocolate goodness! i hope everyone has a fantastic halloween and eats way too much sugar.

happy birthday america!

shane and i's forth of july was unlike any i have ever had. 

there were no bbq's, sweating like crazy from the heat, or sparklers lit.

but it was a very  wonderful day.

easter weekend

our easter weekend was unlike others that i've had in the past.

it consisted of:

shooting my first gun EVER

spending time with family

operation JB creeper: aka hiding a cut out justin beiber to scare others

having a crazy large easter egg hunt

enjoying some canasta (it is NOT an old persons game)

celebrating TWO birthdays

and getting stuck in traffic on the way home.

here are just a few pictures that were snapped during this eventful weekend

skrat (from ice age) was one of our targets.

and yes, those are all of my shots!

(sorry for the delayed beginning...we weren't exactly sure when he was coming out)

our niece strikes the most crazy poses i've ever seen.

she wanted to walk and eat the egg at the same time

it was halie and logan's birthday (my sister-in-law and nephew) so cupcakes were a definite must!

easter weekend was a blast and a half! it was fun to get away from the crazy north and enjoy some sunny days down south with family and friends. now may needs to hurry and show up so i can get back down to my roots for a splendid week :)

new addition!

as a valentines day gift my husband surprised me with this:

it was his way of tell me we are getting a FISH! :D

okay, so most people would say”…really a fish? that’s a lame pet.” but where we are living we can’t have any ‘normal’ pets in the house (dog, cat, etc.) so a fish is basically the only pet we would be able to have. i am SO excited! i miss having pets and the interaction with them. we went to petsmart last night and went “fish looking”. now most fish are rather dull. they just float there and do nothing (kind of a boring pet) BUT i found this WAY AWESOME fish that was unlike all the others. he was social, fun, entertaining, and we had a connection! it was meant to be! that was my fish! he is a tropical goldfish? that’s what i call him anyway. he looks similar to a goldfish but he’s big HUGE! he puts the gravel in his mouth and then spits them out…it’s fabulous! i was all excited, figuring out what tank we needed, what decorations we could put in, getting his filter and everything and then….the lady working in the fish department asked if we already had a fish tank at home set up.

“no, we are just starting one”

“oh, well it’s best to have a tank all put together and running for at least a week before putting a fish in it or else it won’t make it.”

*WHAT THE HECK!?!?!??!*

devastation shot all across my face. i mean, it was ridiculous. who knew you had to have all of that prepared at LEAST a week before?! not us! to say the least i was very disappointed because that i meant i wasn’t going to be able to take my awesome social fish home with me that night. i told her which one we wanted and she said that he had been there for awhile and he is a known fish to all the workers because of how ‘cool’ he is and that he would more than likely still be there when we come back the following week.

*fingers crossed*

so with a sigh we got the tank, gravel, decorations, filter, heater, net, and everything else to get this tank fixed up so that a week from now we could go get turbo (that’s what i named him) :) cute right?!

anyway, this is his tank…it’s alllllll ready for turbo to come home :)

here is a better look at his beach lounge on the right!

to say i’m excited about this is an understatement :)