Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Pioneer Days, Backpacks, and Bible Studies...Oh My!

What's been happening in my world you ask?

Well, first off, my sister and her friend, Sarah, ran a booth for Pioneer Days in New Boston.  My Sister sold her Hoot & Annie's stuff, and Sarah sold her Etsy things.  I went for moral support, and just to hang out.  I got to see a lot of people from New Boston that I hadn't seen in quite some time.  I also got to visit with my cousin and his wife who were in from Tennessee for a little bit.  Satchel went with me and thoroughly enjoyed being the only dog and the center of attention.  :)  I didn't get any pictures, but I did steal this one from Sister of her merchandise.


Sunday, August 18th, we had dinner at our friends' house the Finks.  I made Mom's homemade mac and cheese, and it was a hit!  I barely had any left over.  We had a great time visiting with everyone and watching the kids run around like crazy.  Didn't get any pictures though. :(

Tuesday, August 20th, I worked with my fellow Pilot members after work to put together 15 backpacks for K-4th grade kids at Annie Sims elementary in Mount Pleasant.  We had a lot of fun followed by pizza. :)


This is my second year to be on the Women's Ministry committee at our church.  This year, we are really taking our time to try and hear what the women of our church want to do and try to make it happen.  One of the things that we're doing for sure is a Wednesday night DVD-based Bible study.  We're starting this Wednesday with a seven-week study.  I'm pretty excited about it.  It's called Stronger by Angela Thomas.  Come if you can!


Melanie & Joe kept our nephew this weekend, so I got a couple of good pictures of him.  He didn't want to ride in Uncle Nick's "scary tractor" (his words, not our's), but he would sit in it. :) He loved playing with all of the toys that Mitchell & Casey gave us.  And he also wanted to see Uncle Nick's drums.





This past Sunday, Nick & I had dinner with the Maybens.  Keyton has found his new hobby...shooting Nerf guns (thanks David Fink).  He was tripping me out Sunday night with no shirt, barefoot, hat sideways, and running around shooting things.  He knows not to shoot mine or Kelley's bellies. :)


This week is already full to the brim.  School started back yesterday which means everything else is starting too.  Wednesday night activities start at church this week.  Thursday, Nick & I are taking maternity pictures with Jessica at Treasured Moments.  Friday is the first home football game of the season.  Nick & I are keeping Joe & Melanie's dogs this weekend because they are headed to Waco for the garage sale at Memaw's house.  I'm going to see my Memaw and some of my Mississippi relatives on Saturday.  And I'm sure we'll work on my nesting list/nursery in there as well.  :)  Glad I have Monday off!

Monday, August 12, 2013

Working, Sister's Birthday, and Rain...Oh My!

Friday night, Nick & I spent an evening in Longview.  He had some jobs he needed to bid, and I went a long for the ride.  Of course, I also got dinner out of the deal.  I had been craving spinach dip for a while and Cheddar's has some phenomonal spinach dip.  :)  Nick dared me to order something other than a monte cristo sandwich.  I said, "Why on earth would I do that?"  He said, "In the almost 8 years we've been together, you've only ever ordered a monte cristo when we come to Cheddar's."  I said, "I've ordered chicken fried steak."  He said, "That doesn't count."  I said, "Why mess up something I know I'm going to like."  He said, "Point taken."  Needless to say, I ordered a monte cristo, and it was fabulous.

Also, here's a funny picture of Tex in Nick's work shirt.  We're weird and like to mess with our dogs.
 


Saturday, I went to register at Hoover's for Brayden.  Had lots of fun doing that.  Nick & I grabbed some BBQ at the trailer in front of Hoover's.  I've forgotten the name of it, but it was yummy.  Nick worked a bit while I cleaned house.  Then we headed to New Boston to celebrate Sister's 29th birthday!  We met up with my aunt and two of my cousins for dinner at Fugi's.  Then we drove back to NB to swim, let Sister open presents, and eat cake.  We got Sister a bottle of wine, and the two of us are going to go to Painting with a Twist soon.  Mom let Sister's cake melt (it was an ice cream cake), but not completely. :)  Just some of the frosting melted down the side.  It still tasted super yummy.  We all swam and visited.  Nick helped kill all of the mosquitos that were swarming around my head for some reason...I guess pregnancy hormones were attracting them??  They didn't do that to anyone else.  We were all about to leave to head our separate ways when the bottom dropped out.  It poured for a good thirty minutes.  So, we visited a bit longer to wait for the rain to clear.  We had a great time, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER!!

Sister and her bottle of wine.
Me & Sister

Always have to have a funny face pic.

The dogs and Husband watching Sister open presents.
Sunday, we had church, ate lunch, and I took a nap.  Nick worked most of the day.  His parents dropped by, and it started to rain.  It was beautiful. :)  They stayed for dinner, and we visited a bit.  Now we're back to another work week.

Monday, August 5, 2013

Painting with a Twist, Family, and Gaither Concert...Oh MY!

We had dinner with Aunt Patsy and Uncle Bobby Saturday, July 27th.  Nick & I had spent the entire day working on getting the nursery ready for paint the following week.  I was up to my eyeballs in the master bedroom closet making room to store stuff in there that I had been keeping in what will be Brayden's room.  Nick came in and said, "How about we call Bobby & Patsy to see if they want to eat at Country Tavern?"  If I didn't have to cook, I was up for it!  We had a great time visiting with them.

The next day, Joe, Melanie, and Rhon got home from their vacation in Creede, CO.  Alan, Tovah, and Owen came down for all of us to go out to eat.  Joe & Melanie also wanted to give us our presents. :)  I got a snowman for Christmas decoration and a new t-shirt, Nick got a new flashlight (that boy has an obsession with flashlights) with pocket knife attachments on the end, and Brayden got a moose back pack!  We all loved our treasures!  Alan & Joe helped Nick move all of the big furniture out of the nursery that I could help with out into the living room to help out the painter.

This past Thursday night, I went to girl's night.  We had a BLAST at Painting with a Twist in Longview.  I've never done anything like this before, and I definitely want to do it again.  We had a big group of ladies, 12 in all, that met up to paint and have wine.  There were three pregnant ladies in the group (myself included), so I brought us sparkling grape juice. :)  We had so much fun, and I enjoyed getting to spend time with all of them.  Seven of us went to eat at McAlister's before getting artsy.  I'm not sure where I'm going to hang my artwork, but it will be going up soon.

The preggers with our sparkling grape juice.
Our group!  Starting at the bottom left and making a big circle clock wise: Audrey Shumate, Kristen Jernigan, Kelley Fink, Casey Mayben, Christi Denney, Stacey Stuard, Dara Smith, Dia Hardeman, me, Candace Perschbacher, Jessica Kimbro, and Leslie Hooper.
Our works of art in progress.
Casey being a punk and painting on my canvas!
Dara was very intently painting her cross.
Everyone concentrating very hard on their canvas...except for Audrey.  She's painting her paper towel, and Kristen's sticking her tongue out. 
Kristen in her AWESOME apron.
Finished project!
Our group plus four other women from Pittsburg that were there too.
Friday night, Nick & I went out to eat with Edwena and Nick's dad.  Edwena is like Nick's adopted grandmother.  We took her out to 155 for fried fish.  Melanie was out of town so Joe tagged along with us.  Edwena showed me her latest quilting project...a quilt for Brayden.  I'm so excited and absolutely love it!  We had a bit of excitement though.  Right before we picked up Edwena, her electricity went out.  We didn't worry about it, left and ate, then came back to drop her off.  SWEPCO was there getting set up to fix the transformer in front of her house.  We pulled into the drive way, and SWEPCO pulled in behind us (blocking us in) and started setting everything up.  Nick didn't want to be "that guy", so we just stayed put while they gave everyone in the neighborhood electricity and A/C.  I about melted, but we had some fun getting extra time to visit with Edwena.

Saturday, Nick & I ventured into Longview to do some shopping for Bray's nursery.  We got a ceiling fan and some odds and ends for decorations.  We ate at Taco Casa, and it was oh so yummy.  We rented Pitch Perfect and What to Expect when You're Expecting.  We watched Pitch Perfect that night, and we're going to watch the other tonight.  We enjoyed getting to spend the day together and getting ready for Brayden to make his appearance.

Sunday, Nick & I went to Sunday school, worshipped, then left as soon as the song service was over.  We ran by the house, picked up Satchel and let Tex run around a bit, then headed to New Boston.  We ate lunch there, then we all loaded up to go to a Gaither concert at the Perot in Texarkana.  It was a lot of fun, and we were super close!  We just saw the Gaithers in February, but I'm not passing up a chance to get to see them.  I especially enjoyed getting to hear Mark sing "Mary, Did you Know?"  It made me ready for Christmas!  I loved his story leading up to the song.  I also got to see my senior Sunday school teachers.  Loved getting to visit with them.  
The dogs running off some steam before we headed to Texarkana.






After the concert, we had pizza, and I got to swim for the first time this summer.  It was heavenly!  I didn't realize how enjoyable swimming could be for a pregnant lady.  It takes all the gravity off of your back. :)  I enjoyed getting to visit with Mom and Dad while floating in the pool.

We're headed back to New Boston this upcoming weekend for Sister's birthday.  Should be fun!