Birthdays, Parties, and Fishing...Oh My!!!

A lot has happened in the month of April, and I've been an AWFUL blogger.  :) At least I've been able to keep up with what I've been doing and took lots of pictures along the way.  Ha.

Friday, April 6th, Nick & I had a date night.  We went to see The Hunger Games.  This was my second time to see it, but it was Nick's first.  He really enjoyed it and had lots of questions for me.  He said it was infinitely better acting than Twilight, and I have to agree with him.  :)  He wants to see Catching Fire when it comes out.  I've already told him everything that happens in books 2 & 3, but he'll forget before they come out.  We also went to eat dinner at Taco Casa and visit Academy.  All in all, a very good and much needed date night.

Saturday, April 7th, Nick & I joined Joe & Melanie, Alan, Tovah & Owen to celebrate Melanie's birthday! We went to Double C Steakhouse in Winsboro.  It was super yummy!  Then everyone came back to mine & Nick's house to open presents and eat cake.  I made Melanie's favorite, an angel food cake with strawberries and Whip Cream.  We all got to see Owen's version of crawling, scooting.  It's really cute!  We got Melanie a bouquet of flowers and a new charm for her Brighton bracelet.  It was a fish since she loves fishing soo much! :)

The nephew and I getting some pictures.

Trying to start him off early on the funny faces. :)

Sunday, April 8th was Easter.  We had a WONDERFUL service.  Then we jumped in the car and headed to New Boston to celebrate with my family.  We had lots of good food and got to spend a lot of time with the Bray family members.  After New Boston, we headed back to New Boston and met Joe & Melanie out at Highland Club Lake to fish some.  Then we headed back to our house to eat spaghetti. :)

Dedication right there...fishing in the rain. :)

To make any fish look bigger...

Just do this!

Thursday, April 12th, I got to experience my first time helping a sick child.  We were eating dinner with Mitchell & Casey.  Keyton hadn't been feeling well all day.  His Motrin was fading, so Casey decided to go ahead and take him home.  So, Kenlie stayed with us to finish dinner.  She had asked to sit in my lap while she finished.  I told her that she could.  After taking a few bites, she turns and looks at me, slaps a hand over her mouth, and her eyes get huge.  I said, "Kenlie, are you going to be sick?"  She nodded her head, so we ran to the bathroom as quickly as possible.  After a few minutes she was finished and okay, but she still didn't feel tip top.  I ended up taking her back to their house and Mitchell and Nick came home a little bit later.  Casey thinks Kenlie simply ate too fast and too much at once.  After we were at their house, she ate some mac and cheese and was back to her normal self.  Meanwhile, Casey and I worked hard on her back porch to prepare for the next evening, Jess's lingerie shower!

Friday, April 13th, was Jess's shower day!  I took a half day off from work to help Casey get everything ready.  It turned out beautifully!  We had three tables set up on the back porch all with different place settings for each table.  Props to Casey for having everything we needed!  I made chicken alfredo.  Karrie, Jess's future mother-in-law, made a yummy cake for dessert.  Casey handled the salad and bread. We had great attendance, and Jess was thoroughly showered with things for her wedding night.  I promised that I wouldn't post any embarrassing pictures, so I'll only post a few from the night.  After the shower, Jess, Jenna, Christi, & Casey came to my house to spend a little more time together.  Christi & Casey ended up spending the night at their own houses, but Jess & Jenna stayed with me.

Yummy dessert table!

Turquoise and Brown Table.

Centerpiece for Turquoise and Brown Table.

Place Setting for Turquoise and Brown Table.

Fiesta Table.

Centerpiece for Fiesta Table.

Place Setting for Fiesta Table.

Earth Tones Table.

Centerpiece for Earth Tones Table.

Place Setting for Earth Tones Table.

Games Table.

Present opening time!

She made that face many, many times. :)

Reading "What she'll say on her wedding night!" Scandalous!

Still reading. :)

Pretty Bride & Bridesmaid. :)

LOVE HER!

Bride & Hostesses.

Friend Kelley & I. :)

Saturday, April 14th, the three of us woke up and had a delicious breakfast that was provided by Jess's grandmother, Kathryn, and mother, Kathy.  We had a fun filled day for Jess for her Bachelorette party.  We drove to Rockwall and met up with Tovah and Jess's friend Jennifer for lunch at La Madeleine.  Then we all headed to Garland to shop till we dropped at Firewheel Town Center mall.  We all got really great hauls!  Tovah and Jennifer had to leave us early, but Jess, Jenna & I were able to have a blast the rest of the day on our own.  After we got back to Pittsburg, I met up with Nick and his parents and we went to eat at Whataburger in Gilmer.  It's really cool, and I especially enjoy the saddles as stools.  Very fun.

Sunday, April 15th, my mother-in-law, Melanie, and I headed to see my Dad's best friend, Boyd, sing a concert at Calvary Baptist Church in Henderson.  This is the church that Nick's Aunt Patsy and Uncle Bobby attend.  So we were able to see lots of loved ones at the same time.  We also got to eat at one of my favorite restaurants EVER, Cotton Patch Cafe.  Some people don't understand how I still enjoy eating there after working at CPC for two and a half years, but all the food there is just delicious!  Melanie and I headed to Bobby & Patsy's after lunch to see their baby calves.  We got to pet them this time, maybe next time I'll get to feed them! :)  When I got home, Nick & I headed over to the Mayben's cabin and helped hang ceiling fans.  I admit, I didn't do a lot of fan hanging, but I entertained the kids and kept them from knocking anyone off of a ladder.  :)

Petting the calves.

Keyton being shy. :)

Tuesday, April 17th, we had our final Bible Study of the semester.  We won't start back up again until September.  I really enjoyed this semester's study.  We did Priscilla Shire's Seeds.  It was soooo good.  I looked forward to our Tuesday nights together.  We always take a $5 to $15 gift to exchange White Elephant style.  I got my hands on an herb garden and got to take it home with me.  I've planted it, so let's see what happens! :)

Satchel was interested as to what was in the pots.  So far, he hasn't messed with them, but we'll see how long that lasts.

I had to write which herb I put in which pot.  I wouldn't have known once they started to grow!

Friday, April 20th, my Sister came down to spend the night with us.  Nick & I, Joe & Melanie all met up at Chili's with her for dinner.  We went to Wal-Mart afterwards to get me a new rod.  The tip of mine broke off.

Saturday, April 21st, our Sunday School class had our very first "Dogs & Fish Day."  We may have to make this an annual event.  My sister and I started the day off right with breakfast from the Hot Link Joint, then we went out to Highland Club Lake around 10:00 am.  Everyone trickled in until around 11:30.  We grilled hot dogs and had great fellowship.  By the end of our time together, everyone (even the little girls) were taking their own fish off the hooks and baiting the hooks.  We had such a great time together!  I feel so blessed to have so many great, Godly friends surrounding us.  I love them all!  Sister and I headed back to the house around 3:00.  We did have a quick sno-cone break, but then she had to head back to New Boston.  Nick and Mitchell help with Ducks Unlimited and their banquet was that night.  So, I met Casey at 6:00 and we spent the evening having fun at the banquet.  I played all of Nick's raffle tickets and won him a camouflage messenger/brief case, camouflage blind back, and some noose thing that he can take hunting to carry the ducks on.  He was super proud of me because his tickets never win anything.  :)  We had a yummy catfish dinner.  Casey and I were STARVING after fishing all day.  We demolished our food.  We think that next year they need to splurge for brownies or something.  :)

Lots of people on that dock!

Me fishing...

I LOVE this picture!  All of the girls and their worms.  I especially love that Bailey is putting her worm in Reagan's hair. Ha.

Bill and his good catch.

Mitchell and his good catch.

Brother Steve even joined us for a bit.  He had a previous engagement, so he came straight from it.  All dressed up to fish with us!  He's awesome!

Yesterday, Sunday, April 22nd, we had church, then Nick & I headed to lunch with the Maybens, MacKenzies, and Harwells at El Chico.  We had a good time with them, then we headed home.  I needed a nap!  I put in Star Trek and slept through it. :)  Nick got out in the yard and started working.  He mowed and weed-eated (is that a word?).  When I woke up from my nap, I came out to ask Nick what he wanted for dinner.  He came up and said, "I'm thinking about cutting down a few dead trees in the yard."  He pointed out the two dead ones, a Bradford Pear and a Tulip tree.  He also wanted to cut down a Crape Myrtle tree.  That one wasn't dead, but it was very awkwardly placed and leaning at an angle.  Then once we started, he decided to cut down a bush that was obstructing our fence and massively large.  So, I immediately started helping.  I ran inside to grab my garden gloves, and came out to help pull all of the brush into one big pile.  After we took care of the trees and bush, we decided to go ahead and put the concrete decorative edging that was around the flower beds in the pile as well.  I then asked Nick I could blow off the sidewalk, drive way, and back porch with the back pack blower (I've never used one before).  Nick was all for it and thought it would be funny to see me with the blower on. It was funny but so much fun too!  If you blow into our front door where there is a lot of leaves, it will create a snow globe effect.  Nick laughed the entire time I was doing it.  I was like a kid in a candy store!  We got A LOT accomplished in a short amount of time.  I'm excited to do it again soon.

Me with the back-pack blower!

The damage we did!  

Watering the grass seed in where we cut down the trees.

This weekend is Jess's bridal shower.  So this week will be full of me getting decorations ready.  I've been blessed with a lot of hostesses that are helping me in many ways.  It's going to be beautiful, and I'm sure I'll get lots of good pictures. :)