Thanksgiving in Pictures

I know I said I would be back on Friday with Thanksgiving in pictures, but I lied. I am sorry. Here it is Monday and I am ready to go.

We had an amazing Thanksgiving. It was wonderful getting to spend sometime with Jaime's family. It was so nice and relaxing. Lunch at Mema's was wonderful and the company was even better.

After lunch we headed outside for some family pictures. We were in Corpus in November so you know it was hot. I could only stand the heat for a little while then had to head back in to the air conditioning.

Derrick, Grayson and Jaime

Me and my sweet mother-in-law, Becky

Sweet Grayson who is getting so big

Derrick and Kendra. Kendra is looks great! You can't even tell she had a baby, let alone 5 months ago.

I have more pictures from Thanksgiving, but I am fighting with Blogger right now. I have been trying to download the pictures since last night. I am not sure if it is Blogger or the internet, but I am tired of trying. I will continue to try today.

Thanksgiving

We were sitting in the airport on Sunday waiting for our flight home from Oklahoma. We had 2 hours in Houston so I was blogging and planing out my blogs for the rest of the week. While waiting patiently for our flight Jaime and I started talking about Thanksgiving when I decided to interview him about Thanksgiving.

I am not sure that was such a good idea. While I was interviewing him he was reading the Sunday paper. He really doesn't like to be bothered while reading his paper, but that usually doesn't stop me. I continued on with the interview.

What is your favorite part of Thanksgiving?
"Being around family."

What is your favorite Thanksgiving memory?
"I will have to think about that one."

What is your favorite thing to do on Thanksgiving?
"Be with family." After a dirty look from me Jaime says, "You may have to find someone else to interview." I give him another dirty look and he answers my question with, "Say thanks."

Do you need a nap after eating your Thanksgiving meal?
"Yes."

What is your favorite place for a nap?
"Recliner."

Do you have anything else good to say about Thanksgiving?
"No."

After the interview is over I start blogging and Jaime ask me if I am really going to post that. I tell him of course and maybe he should take it more serious next time. Yeah, I don't think it was such a good idea to interview him.

There are many things that I am thankful for this year. I am most thankful with my closer relationship to God. The past year has been a journey and a great learning experience. I have become closer to the Lord and I am so grateful for that and hope it continues to grow.

I am so thankful for a wonderful husband who I could not live without. He makes me so happy and I love my life with him. I am truly blessed to have him by my side everyday. I also have a family that loves me and cares for me. They mean so much to me. All of them do so much for me and I appreciate all of it. I am also thankful for the wonderful friendships I have. It would be hard to make it through life without my wonderful friends.

Thank you to each one of you. You make my life better in so many ways. I love you all.

We will be spending Thanksgiving with Jaime's family in Corpus this year. I am thankful that we are going to be there with them. I love Mema's cooking. It is the only place I will eat stuffing and I can't wait to have some.

I hope each and everyone of you has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I will be back Friday with Thanksgiving in pictures. Don't eat too much!

The Christmas Tree Nightmare

I know it is a little early to be putting up a Christmas tree, but I usually put it up the weekend after Thanksgiving and this year we will not be home.

Moving on. I decided I really needed a new tree this year. My old tree was about 5 years old and half the pre-lit lights no longer worked. When I found out Ann had done all the leg worked and shopped around for a new tree I was so excited. A new tree without the work. I went to Hobby Lobby back in September to purchase my new tree for 30% off. The deal kept getting better. Ann picked out the tree and it was 30% off.

After we got home Sunday from Oklahoma I was determined to get my tree up. When Jaime found out we were putting up the tree this was his face.

Not really. He was playing with the new camera last week and this is the picture he took. He will learn not to take pictures he doesn't want showing up on the blog.

Anyways, back to my story. Jaime got the massive box out and started putting the tree together. It was huge and there was lots of fluffing to be done. We worked for about 2 hours on the fluffing and then went to take a little nap. After the nap we did some more fluffing and then started in on the decorations.

About the time that I had half my decorations on the tree I noticed that some of the lights at the top of the tree were not on. No big deal I decided. I figured we had missed a strand of lights that needed to be plugged in. Jaime gave me the same face as above. He started searching for the missing plug because he is the tall one. He found it! It was plugged in. We tried changing the fuse and the light bulb. Nothing! Did I mention the tree was half decorated?

I started crying and I am not even lying! We had worked so hard all afternoon and by this time it was 7:30. It was basically a whole day wasted which was not good since we had basically wasted a trip to Oklahoma. I asked Jaime to take all the decorations off the tree and take it down and put it back in the box. I was too mad to even look at the tree.

I probably would have not cared because the lights that didn't work weren't that noticeable, especially with all the decorations on it. The only problem was it was a brand new tree and all the lights should have worked.

So today after work I headed to Hobby Lobby. It was half the nightmare that putting and taking down the tree was. The were nice, but it was just a pain to get the old tree back into the store and the new one out to the car especially when the nice man helping you is 80 years old and can hardly lift a box of ornaments let alone a tree in a box.

Last night after we finished eating dinner we were on our second mission of putting up the tree. We started at 6:00 and finished at 11:30. At least it is done, but it wasn't fun!!!

This was my first tree after all the fluffing and ready for decorations.

This is all my decorations all over the place after they had been on the tree and then taken off.

These are all my ornaments that were on the tree and then taken off and put in my favorite chair. This is my second tree finished a day later.

Life Goes On....

Is Oklahoma that good? Are we that bad? Did all the hype get to us?

I don't know what happened, but it was bad! It was really bad. Don't get me wrong, I still love them and will support them forever, but it was awful.

I really think Oklahoma is that good and nobody on our team showed up to play and you could tell. With the way Oklahoma played last night I don't know how Texas beat them. After their performance last night I think they are the best team in the Big 12. We are not!

The trip was great up until it was 14-0 and I knew then that there was nothing good going to come out of the game. I told Jaime before the game that no matter win or lose it was awesome just being there. I was wrong. I also told him to never again agree when I ask if we can go to another road game. So far we are 0-4. That is a record we need to put to rest.

Look how happy we were before the game started.

I am done with it now and don't ever want to talk about it again.

We did have a wonderful time Saturday morning. We went to Southern Nazarene University to look around. It was great. It is a really nice campus and it was fun to see where Jaime was for 2 years. Most of the building were open so we could go in and look around. We were able to see the gym where Jaime played all his games. We also went in the new gym that was being built while Jaime was there. I also got to see where Jaime lived for 2 years and ate all his meals.

It was fun and I know he enjoyed being back for a short visit. It is weird how he ended up in Oklahoma from Beaumont and then onto Lubbock. Thank goodness he wanted to go to Law School. Thank goodness Ann wanted to go to Law School so I could meet Jaime. Thanks Ann!!! Without you I would not have my Jaime.

Football Road Tour '08

We are on the Football Road Tour '08. So far it has been great, but this weekend may decide the success of the entire tour. So far we have only been to Lubbock for the Texas and Oklahoma State games. Those are home games, but part of the road tour for us, so technically this will be the first away game we have been to.

We are headed to Norman this weekend for the Tech vs. OU game. I am very nervous about this game. I have been nervous since about Tuesday. I am worried about OU because Coach Stoops has only lost one game at home. That is pretty amazing. The only thing is OU never has to play Texas at home, that makes that stat a little easier to stomach. Anyways, this weekend will be a big test for us. I am past just hoping we come out and play. I just want us to win, but I am not sure that can happen.

To be honest I don't think we can beat Oklahoma at home. We may could beat them in Lubbock, but Norman is a different story. I told Jaime it is stupid for us to go to Oklahoma to watch them lose, but he said what if we do not go and they end up winning -- and we miss a great game. So I am praying for a win.

Also while we are in Oklahoma we are going to go visit Southern Nazarene University which is outside of Oklahoma City. SNU is where Jaime graduated from and played basketball at. He hasn't been back in nine years. It should be fun.

Check back with me Monday for stories and pictures. Hopefully it will be happy stories and not sad stories. Have a great weekend.

Let's Talk About Me

Ann tagged me for this post, so here it goes.

10 Years Ago I . . .
1. lived at home with my parents. I was a senior in high school with not a care in the world, I promise, ask my mom.
2. drove a green Ford Explorer. It was my first car and I thought I was so cool.
3. worked hardly ever. I was way to busy with high school things. I worked for my mom when it was convenient. I played basketball and took lots of naps instead.
4. took hardly anything serious. I wasn't that worried about school. I had it easy my senior year with only a few classes, my hardest being World History. My others were French, Choir, Basketball and something else that must not have been very important because I can't remember what it was. I couldn't even make it to school on time.
5. discovered that I had a crush on Jaime who didn't even know I was alive. It took me awhile, but I finally got him.

5 Things on Today's To-Do List
1. Return some items to Target.
2. Make some coffee for some people.
3. Take a nap after work.
4. Change my flight for Thanksgiving.
5. Catch up on my shows that are waiting for me on the DVR.

5 Snacks I Enjoy
1. Popcorn
2. Ice Cream
3. Chips
4. Red Sour Patch Kids
5. Twix

5 Places I've Lived
1. Lubbock on 60th
2. Lubbock on Oxford
3. Corpus Christi on Staples
4. Corpus Christi on North Padre Island
5. San Antonio

5 Jobs I've Had
1. Debt Collector / Cashier
2. Assistant to Athletic Director in College
3. Processor at Mortgage Company
4. Closing Assistant at Title Company
5. Barista

This is me. What about you?

Fabulous Blog Award

Thanks to my blog friend, Courtney, for awarding me a "your blog is fabulous" award!

There are rules to receiving this award, and here they are:

1. You have to pass it on to 5 other fabulous blogs in a post.

2. You have to list 5 of your fabulous addictions in the post.

3. You must copy and paste the rules and the instructions below in the post.

Instructions:

1. On your post of receiving this award, make sure you include the person that gave you the award and link it back to them.

2. When you post your five winners, make sure you link them as well.

3. To add the award to your post, simply right-click, save image, then "add image" in your post as a picture so your winners can save it.

4. To add it to your sidebar, add the "picture" gadget.

5. Also, don't forget to let your winners know they won an award from you by emailing them or leaving a comment on their blog.

My five addictions:

1. My Jaime

2. The Foundry

3. Reading about 20 blogs everyday

4. Working out

5. Sleep

My five fabulous blog picks:

1. Ann at The Haag Highlights

2. Jenny at Just Jenny

3. Natalie at Keeping up with the Joneses

4. Abby at Mayhem in Mayberry

5. Becky at The Zona Zoo

Moving On

My day did not get much better yesterday, but I am moving on. Friday is almost here.

We did have a wonderful time last weekend in Lubbock. We drove so it was a very short trip, but well worth it. We got to see my family and football. What more could you ask for?

The Tech vs. OSU game was great. It was cold and felt like football weather. My team still makes me nervous and I am sure it will be just as bad against OU. I better start praying now. I have tried to figure out the BCS all week with many different people. I have talked about it with Tech people and I talked to Scott for a long time who is a die hard UT fan. We have all come to the conclusion the BCS is not our friend.

Basically, one team from the Big 12 is going to get ripped off. Only two teams can go to a BCS bowl game and three of us deserve to go. Hopefully Tech will just win out and that will solve a lot of problems. That way we will not have to count on the BCS to be the tie breaker to see who goes to BCS bowls. I know it is very confusing. I have been studing it all week.

We will just have to wait and see what happens. It should be an interesting 3 weeks.

Is It FRIDAY Yet?

It has been a crazy week already and it is only Wednesday. We ended up driving to Lubbock last weekend for the Tech vs OSU game, which ended up great. We got home late Sunday night which put off my laundry till Monday. No big deal to me really. I could put off laundry for the rest of my life. I did start one load before I went to bed and asked Jaime to put them in the dryer before he went to bed.

Monday morning I woke up at 4:30am to a broken toilet and wet jeans that had not been put in the dryer the night before. What a wonderful morning. When I arrived at work I noticed some new art work on the side of our building and windows. Someone had spray painted some lovely stuff over the weekend. The morning just keeps getting better. I made it through the day at work okay.

Tuesday morning I was working at The Loft, but had to go into town to get baked goods. It was a 30 minute drive to get the baked goods and then another 30 back out to The Loft. I hate driving especially that early in the morning. No worries, I think I only feel asleep twice. Once I arrived at The Loft I realized I was in charge. Not what I was expecting. I thought I was just the helper and someone who worked out there everyday was going to be there. I was wrong. It was a really difficult day, but I made it through it.

I was suppose to workout Tuesday after work, but after the day I had I decided I just needed a nap. After my nap we ended up going to the Spurs game with our wonderful friends, David and Wendee. It was a lot of fun and a relaxing evening after the day I had. I am not going to lie, I had a margarita which made the night a little better.

Maybe the best part of Tuesday was Jaime and I won some OU vs Tech football tickets on Ebay. YEAH!!! I am so excited, now if we can just win. That may be difficult.

My day has been better today, but I still have a lot to get done. I am going to workout after work no matter what. I really need to. I also have to wait on the plumber this afternoon to come fix the toilet in the master bathroom. It will be nice not to have to go to the guest bathroom in the middle of the night.

I also have a ton of errands to get done by the end of the week. Time is running out and I have to work tomorrow morning. I don't know how all you women work, take care of kids and everything around the house. I feel like I am drowning. Hopefully my head will pop up above water soon.

Halloween and Birthday

I know the only thing that really happens here at the nest is the weekend update. I don't know what to tell you about that. We are kind of boring people except on a few occasional weekends. I will tell you about our day yesterday and then you will know how everyday goes and I can go back to weekend update. Jaime got up and went to work. I got up and did laundry. I went to The Loft for lunch. I went to work out. Jaime worked all day. We ate dinner. See we are so much fun. Now you know you are not missing anything on the weekdays here.

Now for the rest of last weekend. The kids came by trick or treating on Thursday night for practice. They looked really cute. Caroline was beautiful as Belle and John was a cute puppy, but not a very happy puppy. I am not sure why, but was not really interested. Caroline was a different story. She even put on a little piano recital for us.

On Friday night we went over to Jeff and Ann's for Halloween. Caroline was of course excited and John was actually interested in his costume and trick or treating. Maybe it has to be Halloween night for him to be interested. He was totally impressed with his candy or crackers, he is really not picky.

After trick or treating and baths we had some time to play with the kids before bed time. John loves to play hide and seek. He will let you sit on the couch while he runs behind the couch from side to side. It is really the best hide and seek I have ever played.

On Saturday we celebrated John John's Birthday. I can't believe he is already 2. He loved sitting on Jaime's lap and playing with his sunglasses. Don't worry, Jaime has broken those glasses about a million times so there was no way John could harm the glasses. The kids also had to jump with Jaime. Who can resist. If only Jaime could lift us all up like that.

The rest was a birthday party. John opened presents and we ate cake. I am sure you know what those two things look like so I will not share anymore pictures. I know, what is two more pictures when you have already seen 2,486.

Pictures From Another

I love taking pictures! I am sure you already know that and may be tired of all my pictures. I am pretty sure Jaime is tired of it, but oh well. I love pictures of me and Jaime, but it is a little difficult to get pictures of us. I have to admit that Jaime has mastered the self portrait. He has long enough arms that he can get some really good pictures of us. The only problem is you can see his arm extended in every picture.

This weekend while we were in Lubbock we had our picture taken professionally. It was a lot of fun and I love the pictures. Lauren Clark took the pictures and she was great. She is young and lots of fun. She grew up in Lubbock just like me. You can go to her blog to see her 5 favorite pictures of us.

I love the 5 pictures she choose, but I love a lot of the others. Go check out her blog http://laurenclarkphoto.squarespace.com/ and see the pictures.

Lubbock, Home of the 2nd Ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders

It was amazing! That doesn't even begin to describe Saturday. It is a day that I will never forget. Today I am only going to post about Tech. I have lots more from the weekend, but way too much for one post.

We started out Saturday morning with our traditional breakfast. We always have a nice breakfast the morning of the UT or A&M game, depending on who we play that year. We had a wonderful breakfast with some very nice drinks. After breakfast we headed to the campus for College Game Day. We did not plan on going early. We didn't care about being on TV, just seeing everything. It was a beautiful morning and a crazy place.

After a wonderful morning watching College Game Day we went to sweet John's birthday party. I will blog more about that later in the week.

After the party and a nap it was time to head to the game for a little tailgating. By this point, I was a nervous wreak. I didn't think we would win I was just worried if we would show up to play.

Of course the first half was amazing. I could not believe it. When we got that safety I was shocked and worried that might be our only points of the night. In case you didn't know, I am a worrier. I worry about anything and everything basically. Once the first half was over I was just concerned we would lose all our momentum in the second half. I was kind of right.

I did enjoy the Tech halftime show. It was all about the pirates, which Coach Leach is obsessed with. It was very entertaining and took my mind off the game, but only for a few seconds.

Once halftime was over it got bad. We did not show up for the third quarter. I probably lost about two years off my life in the third quarter alone. Did I mention it was bad. We did not take advantage of any opportunities. The forth quarter was a little better. My stomach hurt most of the forth quarter and I am not even joking. I did not feel good at all. I think I probably lost another two years off my life during the forth quarter.

I guess all that really matters is that we won and it was a really fun night. We did not rush the field at any point. We know when a game is over unlike our students. We did go onto the field, but only after the game had been over for about an hour. We stuck around the stadium for about 2 hours. It was a lot of fun! I just hope we can do the same next weekend. I could talk about the game for hours, but I know it is of no interest to some of you. We did go back and watch all the game on Sunday afternoon. Yes, we recorded the game and I was still nervous watching on Sunday.
If you don't enjoy pictures you probably shouldn't come back the rest of the week. I love taking pictures and have a really hard time narrowing them down. Just so you know, I took 254 pictures over the weekend.