Mark, Deanna & Mason Minium

Holidays

2012-01-08T09:21:00.000-06:00

Christmas this year was so much fun with little Mason. We went to The Woodlands to visit my family. It was extra special because my brother Scott is home from his mission....so we had EVERYBODY there!! I don't have much time to write a whole lot, due to Mason's nap being very close to being over....so here are pictures documenting the wonderful occasion.

On Christmas Eve. So excited that Santa will visit him soon!

Christmas day. Such a sweetie!

Laughing with Grandma

My cute brother and his wife, Chloe.

All the Trammel/Minium kids PLUS Mason

Family photo

Being silly with mom one afternoon.

I can eat my hand and take off my sock all at one time!

Random pictures of Mason's 4th month...

2011-11-30T21:16:00.000-06:00

I'm really not sure what I talked about before I had a baby.

This past month has flown by so fast!! I went back to work on November 4th and now it's already December! I'm glad the days are going by fast so that it is closer to summertime and spending time with my little man, but it's also sad because his little baby days are going by so quickly. I want to cherish every sweet moment and every smile while he's so little....hence all of the pictures....

This month, my good friend Hillary came to visit us. She lived next door to us in College Station and we became great friends. I miss her so much! She lives in Tennessee now and is loving life up there, but I still wish we lived closer.

Just hanging with mom.

Look how high my head/neck can go now!

Mason and his dad right before going to church a few Sundays ago.

The next ones are super cute. This was after church one day and Mark was watching football (I mean, what else do you watch on Sunday???) Mason really likes to watch football for some reason. I don't think he actually has a preference for it, but Mark thinks he does.....

Enjoying some football.

Had to sit up when it got intense!!!

"Hey mom...stop taking pictures!!!"

Thanksgiving in Canyon and Baby Blessing

2011-11-30T21:00:00.000-06:00

For Thanksgiving, we drove to Canyon, TX to spend the holiday with Mark's family. We were considering flying there since it is a 6 hour drive, but we ended up just driving. If you have an infant and are considering drive longer than 3 hours, let me just give you a little advice....DO NOT attempt the drive.... spend the money and fly. It took us 9 hours to get there and 8 to drive back. I suppose some babies don't mind being in their car seat, but Mason is stubborn and really doesn't like sitting in his seat when he's not sleeping. It was worth the long drive to see our family, but in the future I think we'll just fly.

We had a great time visiting with his parents as well as Mark's sister, Stephanie and her 2 girls. Unfortunately, my bro-in-law and his family got sick with the flu and couldn't make it. We were so sad that they weren't able to come, especially because we haven't even met their newest addition, Owen, since he was born. Hopefully we'll see them sometime in the spring. We had lots of yummy food, had family pictures done, and just had fun playing with the kiddos.

While we were there, Mark gave Mason his baby blessing. He did a great job and it was just perfect. My parents were able to come up for the blessing as well!!

Grams (Helen) and Ashley

Stephanie with her two pretty girls

Such a sweetie. We had just had family pictures done and he was so tired afterwards.

Best buds!

Ashley LOVED taking pictures with my camera. We had several "picture parties" where I'd let her walk around the house taking pictures of everyone. This is one she snapped of us....and it turned out pretty cute.

Right after we had his baby blessing

All the family that was there for his blessing. My parents are on the far right. They drove up the day before so that they could be there for his blessing.

Aunt Stephanie and little Mason.

I took this right before we left on Saturday. Ella LOVED Mason's paci's. In fact, we called her the "paci police." She loved holding them and carrying them around the house. When Mason had one in his mouth, she would press on it to make sure it stayed in his mouth. It was so sweet and cute!! She definitely loves her some paci!!

Not sure why this is sideways, but it''s a sweet one of Mason. Love him so much! He looks so big!! Can't belive he is going to be 4 months next week!!

Thankful....

2011-11-30T20:28:00.000-06:00

I am so thankful for my beautiful family!! Mason has brought so much joy to our lives and words cannot express how thankful we are for him!!

Other things we are thankful for....

1. My wonderful mom who is taking care of Mason while I go back to work. She lives in Houston and comes up during the week to watch him. It's absolutely THE best situation for Mason. I am so grateful for her help and my dad and sister who are sharing her with me for these few weeks.

2. Mark's family for hosting Mason's baby blessing this past week at their house. It was wonderful!

3. Supportive friends and family.

4. Our beautiful new home.

5. Our jobs.

And #6....just thankful for the all blessings we've received this year....healthy baby and happy family.

3 months old on Nov. 4th

Cutie pie!

Playdates and Hanging with Mom

2011-11-04T22:04:00.001-05:00

The past two weeks I've really tried to take advantage of my free time and we have visited with Mason's two best friends, Alexis and Avery. Yes, they are girls and I anticipate some competition for his attention in the future.

I didn't get the best pictures of these playdates, but here's what I was able to get...

Hanging out at Avery's house playing with her toys! I'll probably be getting one of these for Christmas!

Little Lexi came to visit last week and took a spin in our swing. She has the exact same one, so she felt right at home. I love this pic because our dog Sadie is just watching from above :)

I also took advantage of our last few days at home by taking lots of cute pictures!! He doesn't look too interested...it's as if he's saying "Ok, mom...enough already...everyone knows how cute I am"

Melts my heart!

Being silly!

Look at the sweet smile:)

I went back to work today and it was seriously THE hardest thing I've done! I'm so glad this day is over and that I got through it. I really didn't think I'd be productive at all today, but I actually was. I was able to work with my long-term sub to get me caught up a little, but I have A LOT to learn still for this new position. Luckily, little Avery's mommy was the teacher of my class last year, so I can always call her and ask questions!

Hopefully every day will get a little bit easier. Knowing my mom is at home with him makes it easier for me as well. It's the next best thing to his own mommy! Stay tuned for more updates on how being a working mommy is!!

Pumpkin Patch and Mason's 1st Halloween

2011-11-02T20:50:00.002-05:00

Yay! I love Halloween. I'm not really into the scary and gross stuff, but the fun, kid stuff. I love watching the old Halloween movies I watched as a child.....Disney's Halloween Treat, Casper, Hocus Pocus, Simpson's Treehouse of Horror I, and Ichabod and Mr. Toad (Sleepy Hollow). My cousin Dawn gave Mason a cute Halloween Sleeper, so he wore it alot!! Here is a pic of how cute it is....

Mark's mom came into town for the weekend to help me with a few projects before I go back to work and to spend Halloween with us!! On Saturday we went to the Pumpkin patch and Mason got his first pumpkin. It was so bright outside so we are all squinting in these pictures.

**Notice that he is wearing The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown onesie. I absolutely love all things Charlie Brown, so when I saw this onesie I had to buy it! So sad that he'll never fit into again!

This is an awful picture of me, but it's the only picture I got with Helen, my mother-in-law. The sun was shining right into our eyes. Even Mason turned his head cause it was so bright.

Erin made this adorable onesie for Mason. I love it!! so cute! Erin-you're going to have to make some kind of Christmas one for him too!!

This is Mason on the morning of his first Halloween!! He seems super excited doesn't he???

This is not related to Halloween , except that I had a Dr. appt ON Halloween. I never had a picture taken of Mason with my Dr. that delivered him! So i snapped a quick one while we were there. I love Dr. Axline! He's the best Dr.! I'm kind of sad that I won't have to go back there for a year for my next visit. After going in SO much when you're preggo, it's weird not to be going in all the time.

College Station Wedding

2011-10-25T22:34:00.000-05:00

This past weekend we had the opportunity to go to our friend, Danny Bass' wedding in College Station. It was so great to go back there and drive around. Mark was in charge of making hotel arrangements and told me that everything was booked so he had to make a reservation at Super 8. I'm sure that Super 8 is a great hotel, but I wanted to stay in a slightly better place on our little weekend away...especially since we have our little guy with us....I just wanted it to be nice and clean (or as clean as any hotel room can be). Since we stayed in Florida a little longer, my parents just drove me over to CS to meet Mark on Sat. I didn't want to go to the actual ceremony with the baby, so I had planned on going to the reception. Mark went to the wedding and we arrived as soon as it ended. So when we were trying to decide where to meet, I offered to just meet him at the hotel rather than the church where it was held. He said no, and to just meet him at the church and we'd drive over together. I thought he was being silly cause then we'd just have to back track, but whatever....we went ahead and met him at the church. Then we drove over to the hotel which was just two blocks away. As we drove in, he surprised me by making a reservation at the La Salle hotel in downtown Bryan!!! The history with why that's special is that when we got married, we received a gift certificate for a night in the hotel. It's the fanciest hotel in the Bryan/CS area (or atleast I think it is). It's very old and is very pretty! IT was so sweet of him to surprise me and make our family getaway special. I didn't take any pictures while at the hotel...silly me. But just know that it was super nice! It had two bedrooms with 2 TV's. Of course, since we have Mason, we all slept in the same room, but it was nice to spread all of our things out.

Ok, now for some pictures....

Mark and Mason at the reception at the Zone at Kyle Field

Mark and his old friend Bronson

This is Dallas....the Best Man in the wedding and the groom's brother. Me, Mark, and Dallas were all best buds back in the day when we were living in CS. It was so nice to see him!!

We snuck down to the field and got a picture!!!

With the happy couple

Our last stop before we left was to stop by our old apartment where we lived when we were first married.
Such a fun weekend! I was sad for it to end, but so glad to finally come home after being away a week and a half.

Mason's first trip to Florida

2011-10-25T22:11:00.003-05:00

Last week my mom and I traveled to Daytona Beach to visit with some of our family there. It was so fun to have Mason meet everyone!! I was sad that Mark had to stay home and work, but we had plenty of fun for him. Here are some pictures throughout our trip.....

This is at my parent's house before we left.

On the plane....Mason's first plane ride!!! He did so well. Never even cried! He nursed while we took off and during the descent so that his ears wouldn't hurt. Such a big boy!

Here we are at the beach.....It was a little windy so Mason mainly was covered up with a blanket and hat, but we managed to take a quick picture before he got upset.

My two pretty cousins, Andrea and Allison. They came over to my grandma's house to visit us

My aunt Debbie while we were eating at Olive Garden (doesn't she look JUST like my mom?)

Kind of random, but we were driving around in Stuart Beach, FL and drove by this MASSIVE tree and I had to take a pic.

Uncle Tim. Whenever he held the baby, Mason immediately spit up on him (that's why he has no onesie one in this picture).

Four Generations! Nanny, me, Mason, my mom

Nanny (my mom's mom) with her two great-grand kids. (oh, and me)

Just hanging out at Nanny's house

You can't really see it, but the bib says "Thank heaven for little girls" We had run out of my bibs and this is what my aunt had laying around. He still looks cute.

Sweet Harmony holding my little guy. She just loved him so much!!!

On our way back to Texas :( We had such a nice time and even got to spend a couple extra days because of the storms that went over Florida.

Two Months Old!!

2011-10-07T21:47:00.000-05:00

Yay! Mason is two months old! We went to the doctor today and he weighs 12 lbs. 11 oz and is 24 in. long.He's in the 90th percentile for height and 75th for weight. So he's pretty much perfect :)

Here are some pictures of my little sweetie....

P.S.-does anybody even read my blog??

My sweet Mason

2011-10-02T22:28:00.001-05:00

Being Mason's mommy is the BEST job ever. I absolutely love it. He's now 8 weeks old and is a chunky baby!! He still eats every 2 1/2 to 3 hours, so that hasn't changed yet this month. He has started to go 4 hours in between one or two feedings a day which has been nice. I'm not going to stress about it though...I've considered doing different sleeping techniques, but in the end I just don't feel comfortable doing them. I don't mind feeding him that often especially if he needs it. The doctor said that because he's such a big boy, that he just needs to eat that often. So for now, we're just going with the flow and I'm simply listening to what feels right and what he wants/needs.

Next week we have his two month appointment and I think he has to get a couple of shots. I'm super nervous about it cause he gets so upset, and then I want to cry! Other than that, I'm looking forward to seeing what percentile he's in and what the doctor says about how he's doing.

As for me, I feel pretty much back to normal. I mean, my stomach still has a layer of fat that is SLOWLY going away, but I'm sure that'll take a while to completely be gone (if it does at all!!) I still have about 8 more pounds to lose, but I'm not too concerned about that. After gaining 38 pounds, having to lose just 8 pounds does not seem so bad.

Ok, so here are some pictures from the last few weeks................

Look at that sweet smile!!! He smiles alot now. Especially in the morning.

Chilling in his little seat while I make breakfast.

I love my daddy! Mason is such a cuddle bug. He loves to just lay on me, or whoever is holding him. It's so adorable!

Last week, my mom and I met my Aunt Bonnie for lunch. She took a really nice picture of me and my little man.

He wore this on one of the days my mom came to visit. He loves his Grandma!!

Mark's parents and aunt came to visit a couple of weeks ago. Here is Grams and Mason just being sweet with each other. We can't wait to have Grams and Papa visit again soon!

I think he has such a handsome face :)

Looking forward to another month of new things!! However, I'm not looking forward to going back to work in November :( I know that I have to and that I'm doing it for my family, but it's sure going to be hard to be away from Mason for 8 hours a day!

Mason 1 month!!

2011-09-19T11:20:00.000-05:00

Ok, so now he's 6 weeks old, but I wanted to post some pics and stats about his one month milestone!

One month stats: 11 lbs. 2 oz, 22.5 inches long. He is in the 90th percentile for height and weight!!!

Interesting things mommy has noticed this month: Mason loves to eat!! At his appointment, the doctor asked if he has started to go longer periods of time in between feedings and I just laughed :) Mason eats between 2 1/2 to 3 hours like clock work. From his 2 week appt. to his 1 month appt., he had gained almost 3 pounds!!! I've also noticed that he recognizes me. After someone else has been holding him, and then I go to hold him, he has started to smile at me. He also follows me with his gaze around the room when I put him down. It's so sweet!!

He started to smile and grin around week 4. I haven't gotten a good picture of one yet cause it always goes away by the time I press the button :( But at least I've seen it!

This picture was at about 5 weeks old. Aren't we so cute together??

When I went for my check-up with my doctor, they gave me this shirt...it's so cute. You can't really see it, but it says "Look out World, Here I am! delivered by Dr. Brad Axline"

I know people say that once they have their baby, that they feel an overwhelming amount of love for their child. And that thye couldn't imagine their life without that person. Well, it's totally true! I am absolutely and completely in love with Mason and being his mommy! I never get tired of holding him or taking care of him. You know when you babysit other people's kids and you can't wait until they go to sleep so you can talk on the phone, watch tv, or read a magazine? It doesn't happen when it's your own baby! I mean, of course, there are times at night when I pray that he just goes back to sleep so I can get 2 uninterrupted hours of sleep....but most of the time, I can't get enough of him. I didn't think I'd love staying at home everyday taking care of a baby and the house, but I'm loving it. I go back to work on November 7, so I still have quite a while...but I'm dreading it!!!! Luckily my mom will be staying with us to take care of Mason until Christmas break, so hopefully that'll make me feel more comfortable leaving him.

Our new house

2011-08-25T17:05:00.000-05:00

I haven't blogged at all about our new house!! Well, this summer Mark and I have been busy preparing for the baby AND looking for houses that are a little closer to Mark's office. The traffic is HORRIBLE on his way to and from work so we moved from Lewisville to Plano....which is about a 30 minute move east. It was super hard to go house-hunting in the 100 degree weather and being 8 months pregnant on top of that, but we did it!

Here I am, 9 months pregnant in our new backyard!!

And I couldn't do a blog post without posting a picture of my favorite little man :) Isn't he so handsome?

Hospital pictures

2011-08-20T23:39:00.000-05:00

The second day we were in the hospital, the hospital photographer came to our room to take some newborn pics in hopes that we'd spend the $100 for the CD of 8 pictures.....needless to say, when all is said and done, and you see those cute pictures of your day old baby, you buy them......

Enjoy......

Mason Alan Minium

2011-08-16T17:02:00.000-05:00

He's finally here! Mason Alan Minium was born on August 4, 2011 at 7:46pm. We weighed 8 lbs. 10 oz. and was 21 1/2 inches. Definitely a big boy!

I went to the hospital on Aug. 4th at 7:30 am to be induced. He was measuring larger so my doctor thought it would be a good idea to induce one week early. Glad we did! One more week and he would have been over 9 lbs!! It took a while to get hooked up to the IV and monitor cause the nurses had to wait on orders from my doctor. I finally got my pitocin drip at around 9:30am. Over the next few hours, me, Mark, and my sister Katherine watching episodes of CSI on TV and waited for my contractions to progress. At 12:45, my doctore broke my water and then the painful contractions started!! I think I was at a 4 when they broke my water. Had contractions for a couple more hours until they got very painful and had my epidural at 3:30pm. My sweet friends, Kristen and Erin came to visit during this time when my contractions were pretty close together and painful, so it was a nice distraction to have them visit for a few minutes. Then things kind of slowed down after that. I was only progressing .5 a cm an hour for a couple of hours, and I was getting a little discouraged cause I really didn't want to have a c-section. My doctor upped my pitocin a few times and then all of a sudden things just went crazy! I went from a 7 to a 10 in just 2 hours. I was so glad that things sped back up! I was so surprised at how calm it all was. Throughout the day I had some visitors, but for the most part, it was just me and Mark. Veyr peaceful! Even when I was pushing, it seemed very calm. Not at all what I had expected! The nurses were awesome, and my doctor was so calm and confident with everything that it made me feel good about how things were going. Here are a few pictures from the past week and a half.....

Here is me at 39 weeks about to get hooked up to IV's and start the process.

First family photo!

Papa and Grams

Kristen and Craig visiting

Erin and Nick

My dad (Grandpa) holding his first grandchild

Kind of blurry, but this is us at home just hanging out!

My sweet little man taking a nap in his swing

Meeting Sadie

Laura and Daniel and their two little boys came to visit last Saturday. Their boys are both a year old and it was so weird how big her kids were compared to Mason.

                                                              Mommy and baby



                                            Meghan and Peter also came to visit this past weekend while they were in Dallas for one of Peter's races. It was so nice to see them!

Daddy feeding little Mason

Mommy's little Monster

In the midst of having a baby this past week and a half, we also moved to our new house. So things have been a bit hectic around the Minium household. We were lucky enough to have both our mom's here for the past week and they basically moved us.We love our house and are slowly putting things in order....takes a while when you have a newborn demanding your attention. I'll take some pictures of the house soon and post them!

Hope everyone is having a good end of summer! All my teacher friends are back to work, but because of maternity leave, I get the first 12 weeks off!!! I better enjoy them! I have a feeling it'll go by way too quickly.

36 weeks

2011-07-20T20:22:00.000-05:00

I feel like I've been pregnant FOREVER!! I am so ready to have this little guy and get back to "normal"...or at least a new normal. I went to the Doctor on Wednesday and I haven't gained any weight the past month. He said it was totally normal, but it still shocks me. I am just not hungry...ever. I mean, I feel hungry and I eat, but I don't have an appetite, and I get full so quickly. I'm looking forward to being hungry for food again!!

Other stats from appointment....I'm 1 cm dialated and 60 % effaced. I am just happy that I'm something! I was worried that he'd check me and he'd say, "Nothing yet!" So hopefully I'll continue to make progress over the next couple of weeks. My blood pressure continues to be a little elevated, but not bad so I just have to monitor it a few times a day.

Here are some of my 36 week belly shots from different angles :)

Picture from the front....

Here's what Sadie does as soon as Mark comes home from work. She gets so excited to see him and jumps up on his lap to snuggle. IT's a tad blurry, but it was on my phone. She loves her daddy.

More summer time!

2011-06-29T18:14:00.001-05:00

A week and a half ago, Mark and I were able to see our friend's seal their family together in the Dallas Temple. It was awesome!! They adopted two baby boys last year and now they are sealed together for time and all eternity as a family. I'm so happy and excited for them :)

This is at my Houston Shower this past weekend with my wonderful friends from high school. It was so wonderful that they were able to make it!! They are all moms already so it was about time that I join in on the fun too!

(And yes, I'm wearing the same shirt from the previous event....I have few shirts that are cute AND big...so I tend to wear them alot)

Here are some belly shots that I already posted on FB. Here I am at 33 weeks. Can't imagine getting any larger, but I guess I will!!!

Sorry these are out of order....Here are a few more from my shower this past weekend. The hostesses were my wonderful friend Meghan Huntsman and my sweet cousin (actually 2nd cousin I think) Christie Tippets.

Aren't they so cute? Just washing dishes after the shower...

Meghan just had a baby 2 months ago, and here is little Peter sleeping away. He slept for the entire shower!! It's like he knew his mommy was busy:)

Me with little Peter

Random pics of my siblings while we were chillin at home....

Katherine

Tommy right before church.....so handsome!

Pregnancy is still going well. I haven't had any serious swelling yet, which I keep waiting for. My fingers, legs, and feet seem to be the same size. However, after taking a walk outside with the dog in the heat, my feet do swell a bit. Sleeping is gradually getting more difficult and uncomfortable, because I just can't get comfortable!! My back hurts if I lay in bed any longer than 7 hours, and moving too quickly makes my muscles ache in my stomach. As far as appetite....I am really not that hungry these days. I eat regularly, but I am definitely not craving anything like I did in the 2nd trimester. Sorry my description is not more detailed and up-beat....I'm pretty tired right now and I have a head ache. Hope everyone is having a great summer!

End of school and summer time...........

2011-06-23T17:14:00.001-05:00

Sorry for the lack of updates, I pretty much don't get on the actual computer these days. Maybe it's because I'm lazy or maybe because it reminds me of work...who knows. But it's been kind of nice to be disconnected from the world. I figured it was time to at least post some pictures of my life as of late.

For my last airplane ride before the baby comes, I went to Canyon to visit with Mark's fam. Stephanie was there also, so it made it the perfect weekend to hang out! Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

Ella watching a movie in the car, using the headphones :) Too cute!

Grams and Ashley! Sporting their pretty sunglasses.

One day, we went to the park to feed the ducks.....

However, the geese seemed to be the head honchos on this particular day and didn't let the ducks get in on the bread-eating action. We were a little intimidated when they were all running towards us!

Ashley and Ella performing their dance for me. It was THE cutest thing ever.

Right after I got home from Canyon, Mark and I drove to The Woodlands to see my little sis graduate from High School. I can't believe she is that old! She is the youngest in my familia, so now my parents have successfully gotten all of their children out of high school!

The last week of school, my good friend Sarah had her baby, Avery. I was able to go up to the hospital the very next day and visit. She is just so precious!!! Makes me excited to have my own little one in a few weeks!

I am so glad school is out! We got out on June 9th, so I've been officially out of school for 2 weeks. My mom came up to stay for about a week to help us look for houses. We have found a few that we like, but haven't settled on anything quite yet. I had no idea how time consuming and tiring house hunting can be. I guess being 8 months pregnant doesn't make the process easier, and add 100 degree temperatures on top of that.

So other than house hunting, I've been resting, visiting with friends, and hanging out with my dog Sadie during the day!

Dallas Baby Shower

2011-05-13T17:18:00.000-05:00

This past weekend my sweet friends, Erin and Kristen, threw me a baby shower! It was so wonderful and beyond my wildest expectations. They truly made it so special with all of the details and made it very "me." My mom, sister, brother, and sister-in-law were able to come up and celebrate with me. I was sad that my dad couldn't come up as well, but he had his chemo treatment the day before so he needed to rest and get past the yucky few days. On a side note....he only has a few more months of chemo and then he'll be done!!! He was diagnosed with colon cancer in late December....had surgery two weeks later to remove it, and now he's doing chemotherapy to make sure the cancerous cells do not grow back. His prognosis is great, and he's pretty much cancer free!! Such a relief and a blessing. He'll be finished with chemo around the time I give birth to the baby, so we have many things to look forward to in the month of August!

My mother-in-law and father-in-law were also able to come join in on the fun. They drove in last Wednesday and Mark and I spent a few days just hanging out with them....eating out, little shopping, looked at a couple of houses, and of course, some organizing of all the baby stuff/room. Helen was a huge help getting the office/guest room organized for baby Minium.

In other news, we are starting to slowly look at houses to buy. We are very excited about the prospect of moving into a house, but we are taking our time. Our lease is up at the end of August, so we'd like to move around that time. We'll see though....just depends on finding the right house for the right price.

Pictures below!!!!

Oh, and I'm in ALOT of them...sorry. So you'll be seeing a lot of me:)

Cute puffs hung all around the entry area of Kristen's house

These were the favors....a cinnamon bun with a little tag on the outside that says "Deanna's Baby Shower...Bun in the Oven" So cute!!

My sister and I

Me with the hostesses...Erin and Kristen

YAY!! I got my swing!

Me with Mark's mom, Helen

Sister Katherine and sis-in-law Chloe

Cousin Caroline and her fabulous diaper cake she made:) Love it....so cute.

Church friends....I love all my friends from my ward, they are the best. From left...Anna, Erika, Julie, me, Shellie, Tiffany, and Alisa.

No, Mark was not there during the shower, but he came by at the end and got to open a present that was for him. Our friends Erika and Chad wanted to shower Mark with a gift as well.....Here we are opening the gift.

Texas Rangers!!!

Mark's parents posing for some pictures with us.

My familia (minus Dad and Scotty)

Food table....so yummy!!!! They did such a great job!!

Even the cups had little blue ribbons tied around them.

It was such a fun shower! I was so happy that so many of our loved ones were able to share this special time with us.

Belly pics.....

2011-04-28T17:45:00.003-05:00

Here are some pictures that I took this week.....25 weeks.....

I'm measuring 2 and 1/2 weeks bigger than what I should be so I'm thinking this baby might be on the big side. The doctor is going to continue to monitor my growth so we'll see if he continues to grow at this rate.

Nesting!!!

2011-04-24T18:54:00.002-05:00

Oh my goodness! Just a few weeks ago I thought to myself....nesting?? Yeah, right....I do not anticipate having ANY energy to think about cleaning, organizing and decorating. WRONG! The past week has been crazy! My mind seems like it's always going going going...thinking about what I should be doing, cleaning, or organizing. It's been very overwhelming. I had no idea I could feel like this. There are so many things I'd like to do decorating-wise to my entire house, but since we are planning on moving by the end of this year, it's really not the best time to start re-decorating.

In baby news, time just keeps going faster! I'm almost 25 weeks and definitely getting bigger. I don't have pictures today, but this week I'll take some more belly pics :)

Updates this week:

How far along.............24.5 weeks

Weight Gain..........16 pounds

Food Cravings this week............Strawberries

Food Aversions this week...........normal stuff...nothing out of the norm.

Baby Movements..............I've started to feel him kicking and pushing on both sides of my stomach at the same time, which is a very strange feeling! I guess he's just stretching out!

Symptoms.................Stomach feeling like it can't stretch out anymore (which I know it'll get alot bigger!!) so this is not a comforting feeling.

Baby Preparation..............started cleaning out the office. Excited about baby showers soon, but nervous about all the stuff that I'm going to be having to organize!

Half Way There!

2011-04-11T19:53:00.005-05:00

I cannot believe I'm half-way through this pregnancy! It felt like it went by slow in the first 12 weeks because I was so very sick, but now it seems like the weeks are going by quickly. I have an appointment next week and then one four weeks later and after that one I go in every two weeks!! I'm going to copy my girlfriend's blog and post a little update of my pregnancy:

How far along? 22 weeks

Weight Gain: around 13 pounds

Food cravings this week: Reese's Puff Cereal, Swedish Fish, red grapes, Papa John's Pizza (yes, that particular brand of pizza)

Food aversions this week: All chicken, scrambled eggs, mashed potatoes

Baby Movement: Baby Minium is an active baby!!! He likes to kick, punch, flip and turn in the mid-morning, late afternoon, and right before I go to sleep. This week I can actually feel him kicking my bladder....which isn't pleasant. There have been several times where I go to use the restroom and as I am walking out of the bathroom, I feel like I have to go again.

Symptoms: Indigestion and acid reflux pretty much anytime I get finished eating. This week my lower back has started to get a little sore, especially if I've been standing more than 15 minutes.

Baby Preparation: So far I have several baby outfits that I've bought or that have been given to me. I've started to organize the guest bedroom and get ready to take out some of the office furniture to make room for baby things.

Here are some of the cute baby outfits I've been given so far......

Here are some baby bump pics.....I'm going to start having Mark take better pictures in the evening....I just tend to think about taking a picture in the morning after I get ready and he's still asleep. So hopefully I'll have better quality ones soon.

This is 21 weeks

This is 22 weeks

Spring Break and Baby Boys

2011-03-23T21:01:00.008-05:00

What are little boys made of?

Snakes and snails

And puppy-dogs' tails

It's already March!!! Well, March is almost over! Ever since I reached 14 weeks, the time has been flying by. No more constant nausea lurking with me every second of the day, and I finally feel like eating. I thought that since I threw up so much and didn't have an appetite that I would have gained less weight thus far....but my body found a way to gain 11 pounds this past 20 weeks. I think second to the nausea, watching the scale go up instead of down has been the hardest for me. I worked so hard during my "Challenges" with the Beauties and the Beast program the past year and a half and lost so much weight. Now, it's like I'm gaining it all back....yes, I know...it's for a good reason. But it's still hard emotionally for me. I'm hoping my hard work will pay off and when I have the baby, my body will somehow find a way back to it's thinner version.

In more baby related news....2 weeks ago we had our ultrasound and found out we're having a little boy. I will admit, I was convinced we were having a girl. I guess I just imagined having a girl because I'm a girl, but I am soooooo very excited to have a boy. Boys are so cute and fun and he'll definitely be a mama's boy :) I also think Mark will have so much fun having a boy first. I need to scan the sonogram pics, but that'll have to wait until I can get my scanner to work :)

Last week, my mom and I travelled to San Diego for a little spring break vacation. I won't be able to travel much in the summer (due to the impending childbirth) so we figured we'd try to get a little vacation in while I could travel. My great uncle is working in San Diego temporarily and has an apartment there while he's in town working. We stayed with him for the week and had lots of fun driving around, visiting different beaches, and of course, going to the San Diego zoo. One of the best places we went to was Coronado Island. It was so pretty! We had lunch at the Hotel Del Coronado on the deck which was on the beach. So while you ate, you got to watch the waves crash on the sand....so beautiful!!! The only not so fun thing was that on our first day there, we were in a car accident. It wasn't very serious....someone rear-ended us, but it definitely made me nervous because I had sharp pains in my abdomen almost immediately. I called my doctor right away and then went to the emergency room at UC San Diego. I knew that everything was probably just fine, but being pregnant you can never be too safe. I spent 3 hours there getting checked out and went home with a nice ultrasound picture of my little one :) Everything was fine, but it was nice to get the all-clear from the doc.

My pretty momma at Torrey Pines State Beach

My mom wanted to take a picture of this plant...in front of Cold Stone, so I had to be in the picture as well apparently.

San Onofre

My mom in one of the atriaries at the San Diego zoo.

Pregnant giraffe

Hate this picture of me...I look huge at this angle. This is in front of the Hotel Del Coronado

About to take the guide bus around the zoo.

Hotel Del Coronado

We had a great time, but I was happy to come back and see Mark and Sadie!! Just 12 more weeks of school until the summer and then I'll have 6 months off!! Probably not the most restful and peaceful 6 months off, but I'll take it!!

Baby Bump and slow February!!

2011-02-16T10:29:00.004-06:00

It feels like this month has gone by super slow. Maybe because we have had 5 snow days already and it's only Feb. 16th!! It was nice though. Since I've been nauseous and queasy, it felt great just to lay on the couch and watch tv. I actually feel alot better these days. I still have times that I'm nauseous, but most of the time I feel just fine! Yay for 2nd trimester!

In other news, Mark started his new accounting job on Monday. He was supposed to start in July, but they needed someone to start sooner because of a woman who decided to take an extended maternity leave. We are so grateful that he was able to start so soon!!! That means we'll have a few months of extra income to save for the baby. He's still finishing up 2 graduate classes, but they are being flexible with that :)

My bump has definitely grown alot the past 2-3 weeks. I've already posted these on FB, so stay tuned for some more pictures in teh future...here ya go!

This is 12 weeks...can't even tell!!

14 weeks

Life is pretty much truckin' along. I feel like pregnancy has gone by really slow so far. Maybe because I haven't felt well or maybe because I didn't look pregnant for so long. Hopefully it'll pick up, because I'm excited to find out if little Minium is a girl or a boy! We should find out around spring break. Very excited!! Maybe when we get closer I'll put one of those polls on the blog so everyone can vote.
Hope everyone has a great rest of the week!

Life Changes!

2011-01-28T13:38:00.003-06:00

Life certainly does change pretty quickly when you're least expecting it! Mark and I are expecting our first little one in early August...just in time for the next school year to start!

I had posted in November that I'd gone to quite a few doctor's appointments in Oct. and found out it would probably be difficult to get pregnant naturally. (We hadn't been trying yet, I just had some blood work done at my yearly visit and it showed some hormonal imbalances). I was pretty upset at that point, and of course thinking the worse.....HOWEVER, the Lord had other plans for us. Just two weeks after that dr.'s appt I got pregnant! It was a wonderful unexpected surprise!!

I'm 12 weeks along, and it's still early enough for me to be paranoid and nervous about miscarrying. I just keep praying and living day by day....every day is a miracle for sure! As far as pregnancy symptoms go, I've had it ALL! The nausea, vomitting, acne, indigestion, bloating, and other fun stuff that goes with pregnancy!! The worst I'd say would be the nausea and vomitting. IT's not really that bad, but having a group of 1st graders sitting in front of you and then you suddenly need to run to the bathroom is less than convenient. Luckily, this last week has been 100 times better. I'm usually only sick a little bit in the morning while I'm getting ready for work, then it's gone the rest of the day. The good thing about nausea is that it's a constant reminder that you are in fact pregnant!

No real noticeable baby bump yet....but I've read that first pregnancies typically take longer to show. My pants are definitely tighter though!! The elastic belly band has certainly been my best friend! Hopefully I'll be able to wear my regular pants for a while longer while using the belly band.

Ok, well there is my exciting news!!! I'm not a big fan of posting lots of belly pictures, but I will try to post some pics of me pregnant soon.

As of late......October

2010-11-07T16:59:00.002-06:00

Sorry I've been MIA....I've just been so busy and really NOT wanting to blog. But time has caught up with me and I missed the entire month of October. But first....little bit of a pity party for myself....I have a cut on my right ring finger, so typing is somewhat painful....but I'm powering through to let you good people read about my busy yet boring life as of late.

Ok, so October....well.... I had quite a few doctor appointments and come to find out I have some imbalances with my horomones, but I already kind of knew that. It's alright though, the dr. suggested I change what kinds of foods I'm eating and changing my whole diet. I am eating whole and organic foods now. Absolutely NO sweets (except for a very rare cheat), no bad carbs (only whole grains), and I have to eat 6 small meals...I should never feel full. I've always eaten pretty well, but didn't realize how much processed food I eat. Basically I eat like I'm a diabetic because my body doesn't react well to sugars. The hardest thing has been no sodas and no lean cuisines for lunch at school. I've noticed some changes, my face seems to be clearer and I'm not craving sweets....but it'll be a couple of months until I see some bigger balancing changes.

Other than that, Mark's parents came to visit a few weeks ago so that him and his dad could go see the Ranger's play in the ALCS....which they WON!! but then lost in the world series...but it's ok! They'll get back next year! His mom and I had a fabulous day shopping and eating out (which is another thing I can't really do anymore). Also, I have a new nephew, Owen Minium. He's absolutely adorable and will most likely be visiting us here in Dallas for Thanksgiving. Hopefully I'll have some cute pictures and more interesting blog posts soon because of the holidays!
Hope everyone is having a great Fall so far! I love sweater weather.....I have bought 4 new sweaters in the past few weeks and am so excited to wear them.

Fun shower

2010-09-24T13:51:00.002-05:00

This past Saturday I was able to go to my friend Laura's baby shower!! My mom came to visit me this past weekend so she came with me. It was so nice to see the two baby boys and eat some yummy food. Here are some pics:

Talon

Laura with her sister-in-law Emily and her daughter. Holding Talon.

My mom holding Carter. She got both boys to sleep!!!

Laura

Me and Laura

I feel like everyone has or is having a baby!!! It's that season I guess....everyday it's as though one more person is pregnant. I'd love to have one right now, but we want to wait just a little longer to start trying. In the mean time, I love loving on everyone else's babies!!!

My brother's wedding

2010-09-04T20:00:00.006-05:00

Last month (AUG.7th) my younger brother Tommy got married in Los Angeles. It was a lot of fun, especially because we got to leave the hot weather for a few days. Here are some pictures from the event: (P.S.-they are not in order..sorry)

Me and Mark at the Manhattan Beach Pier

Tommy and Chloe Engagement Picture

Me, Tommy, and my sis Katherine (younger bro Scott is on his mission...we missed him so much!!)

New sister-in-law, Chloe

Chloe's parents, Charmaine and Gordon Stephens

Me, Katherine, and Mark at the reception.

Tommy and Chloe right after they came out of the temple.

Leaving the reception!

first dance.

Me and Tommy at the reception

Bridesmaids

parents and Tommy

They are back in Virginia and have already started school for the semester. We sure miss them but wish them well!

The Challenge

2010-08-31T12:07:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure if I ever wrote a post about the end of "the challenge." As most of you all know, I have been a part of a weight loss challenge for the past year and a half or so. It's been the BEST and most helpful thing in the whole world! Tanna (or as we know her...the Beast) really encouraged me and the other Beauties to love ourselves and to stick with the rules. I did !! and I completed 6 challenges (I think...it might have been 5). She's taking a break from leading our "challenge" because she's having a baby in a few months! I'm so happy for her and her family, but I miss sending her my results every week! I am still trying to follow the rules and continue to be disciplined in my food choices until we start back up again sometime next spring time.

Anyways, I just wanted to post something about The Challenge and how much I absolutely LOVED participating! I've been maintaing my goal weight for about 5 months now!

Hope everyone is having a great Tuesday...I better get back to work...my lunch time is over!

More summer fun....

2010-08-23T20:34:00.003-05:00

END of SCHOOL YEAR-

This feels like years ago, but the end of school went very well...hectic! but so much fun. We had a 2nd grade party and all the kids wrote Mrs. Minium Rocks on the sidewalk. So sweet.

Ok, so I'm totally not going in any order in my summer posts, so forgive me! I'm just posting as I remember what happened.

Sometime during the summer :), Mark had a run-in with a softball and his face was split open. This is at the emergency care room right after they glued it together. It was bleeding so much and you could see the muscle underneath....gross. But since it was his face, they decided to use glue instead of stitches. He has a pretty big scar now!

Oh and don't tell him I post these!! He hates it when I post pics of him :)

Summer 2010

2010-08-23T19:51:00.005-05:00

This has been THE fastest summer I've ever experienced. First off, I taught summer school to 5 wonderful little autistic boys. It was a PPCD (preschool program for children with disabilities) class, so there were 3 and 4 year olds in my room. It was so much fun, while at the same time VERY challenging. I had never worked with such young students with autism, so it was definitely a learning opportunity for me. My teacher's aide was amazing!!! She's 22 and going to school to be a nurse and we just clicked from the first day. We started doing P90X together along with another one of the teacher's there and have had such a great time. I had to take a break this past week because I got sick with food poisoning, but will start back up tomorrow hopefully.Ok, so that was most of my summer! Mark and I traveled to New Mexico to see some of his family but unfortunately I am still waiting for pictures from that event. We had a blast! It was so nice to see everyone! Since now we all live very far apart.

We spent time at my aunt and uncle's house in Colleyville (just 30 min. from us) and went swimming and hanging out :)

After we got home from New Mexico, we were able to meet my best friends' new babies!! Laura and Daniel adopted 2 beautiful baby boys this summer and they are just so darn cute.

Don't like my blog right now.....

2010-07-01T19:54:00.003-05:00

Right now I really want to change my blog up but I'm having a hard time. I really don't like all of the fonts from blogger, but for some reason my computer isn't letting me download cool fonts from the web. Oh well, it's going to have to wait until I'm done with all of my homework!!!!

Spring 2010

2010-06-01T22:18:00.004-05:00

I cannot believe that it is June 1st!!! This year has by far, gone by the FASTEST! Since I posted last, we've had several birthdays, anniversaries, Ranger's baseball games, and one trip to The Woodlands. Mark's birthday was on May 4th and we celebrated by ordering a pizza and eating cake. Mark's favorite thing to eat is a pepperoni pan pizza from Pizza Hut so that's what we did!

On our anniversary we decided to go to a Texas Ranger's baseball game. I know what you're thinking......a baseball game on our anniversary? Well, if there was one way to Mark's heart, going to a baseball game is it. He sent me some beautiful roses at school and then we had a great time at the game. The entire month of May there were half price tickets in some of the better sections of the ballpark, so we totally took advantage of that and went 3 times in May!!

Pretty much the only picture I have of Mark in the past month.....party pooper when it comes to picture taking.

View from out seats. Not bad. We were sitting right in front of one of the little restaurants where you can buy sodas, water, hot dogs, nachos. Oh and it was dollar hot dog night!! We definitely ate some yummy hotdogs!

Me trying to document our fun anniversary and my new Texas Rangers T-shirt! It's a #5 Ian Kinsler shirt. He's so cute.

With no sunglasses. I am kind of exhausted, so excuse the tired looking eyes!!

My beautiful roses!!! Next to the puzzle we have been working on.

The next weekend, I went home to The Woodlands for my birthday as well as my mom's birthday. Mine is the 15th and hers is the 16th. Fun! We went to dinner with my great aunt Bonnie and my cousins (with whom I nanny-ed for last summer).

Not a great picture, but you can kind of see Tommy and my dad.

Dave and little Shane

My sis Katherine sitting next to sweet Maiya

My mom holding up her birthday present, a Golden Cowrie Shell (super rare, and super expensive) She has wanted one her entire life, and she finally has one!!!!

Lunch at subway with the sister.

As of late, I'm just winding down the school year, which means alot of testing and alot of paperwork. Fun for me. I submitted my grades today though, so atleast that's finished!! Last week Mark was able to spend a few days in Canyon with his parents. I unfortunately don't have pictures to document that trip, but take my word for it. I was by myself for 2 nights! That was difficult because he took Sadie, so it was just me and the cat. He's back now and boy am I glad to have him around.

This past weekend my mom came into town for Memorial Day weekend. We had lots of fun re-potting plants and relaxing. I will post about the rest tomorrow! I gotta go to sleep!!

Wow!! So busy!

2010-05-09T21:50:00.002-05:00

I have been so bad at blogging lately. Sorry everyone! I'm just finishing up school and will be done with my master's FINALLY this summer. It's be so tough trying to work full time while going to graduate school. Especially since my last few classes were solely online or via video because we moved.

I am still having difficulty with my camera so I'm lacking photos. Plus Mark hates pictures, so I've had a hard time taking pictures of us lately. This week (on WEd. ) is our anniversary and Sat. is my birthday so maybe I'll get some good ones :)

Last week Mark turned the big 2-8. Yep 28!!! It's such a grown up age! We ate cake when he got home from work and then went to a Ranger's game on Friday to celebrate his birthday (a little after the fact). Working as a full time teacher is soooo time consuming!! I mean, I totally love it, but I forgot how dirty your house gets and the lack of real meals you get when you get home and are just so tired. I'm very blessed though, that I get to teach these great 2nd graders! They are so sweet. Ok, well I'm gonna go to sleep!

April days

2010-04-11T00:28:00.005-05:00

Life is busy these days! I traveled to Canyon last weekend to play with my mother in law, Helen. We had so much fun shopping and eating out! We had a very successful weekend!

On Wednesday, Mark got some awesome tickets to the Rangers game. We invited Laura and Daniel and had so much fun. Mark caught a foul ball! His second one !! Last year he went to a Rangers game and caught one....i guess he attracts them :)

I start my long term sub job on Monday for a second grade teacher who is going on maternity leave for the rest of the school year. I'm way excited!! It's at the school that I'll be teaching at next year. Did I already post that I got a job for next year??? Well, if not.....there it is!!! I got a special ed teaching job for next year at my favorite school! I am so blessed to be able to work at such an awesome school and with such amazing teachers. It is ranked #38 in the state amongst elementary schools!!! It's really a great school I'll be working with students in grades k-2 who have special education needs. Dream job! Anyways, the rest of the school year I'll get to work with many of the teachers I'll be working with next year as well as the girl whose job I'm taking. I'm so sad that she's leaving because we've become good friends, but I'm glad I get to pick her brain and work with her for the next couple of months before she moves.

More pics to come from life now that I have a camera again. Mark's mom is letting us borrow one of their camera's until we get a new one. I just need to get a card reader so I can download the pics to the computer!!

I'll leave you with some old pics that I found on my camera that were never downloaded.....
Enjoy!

Jessica's wedding reception

Spring break before Mark and I were married.....look at that facial hair on Mark!

Spring break 2006 at Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo

More pics from Buena Vista

2010-03-22T19:36:00.002-05:00

Tommy proposed kind of later in the evening so we were all in our comfy clothes watching movies and eating yummy treats :) Here are some pics from right after they got engaged.

Love these two!!!

Buena Vista trip!

2010-03-09T20:16:00.007-06:00

This past weekend I was able to take a quick trip to visit Tommy (my brother) in Buena Vista, Virginia. He was planning on proposing to his girlfriend but needed the ring! So since I've never been there and have never met Chloe, my parents thought it would be nice for me to go deliver the ring. It was so much fun....Virginia is so beautiful! I had to take three planes to get there, but it was so worth it. Tommy took me to Lexington to sight see and then we walked around SVU (Southern Virginia University-the school he attends). I also got to hang out and get to know Chloe....his fiance!! He decided to propose on the last night I was there, which was so neat. Here are some pics of my vaca. Tommy has some cute ones on his camera since all I had was my camera on my phone...so I'll get those from him sometime this week.

First off, these are my new shoes!! They are Tom's Shoes. Super comfortable and support a great cause. For each pair you buy, he donates one pair to a child in need. And yes, those are my white feet...no socks....just really pasty feet. I love the shoes.

View from an outlook near campus.

Tommy in his cool shades when we were driving around Lexington. In the background are some of the fraternity and sorority houses at Washington and Lee University.

One of Tommy's classrooms at SVU.

The lacrosse field where his teams practices/plays games.

This is me!! Sitting in one of his classrooms.

This is the lobby of the main hall. It's actually an old hotel and is a historic building. Very pretty.

Kind of blurry, but I thought it was cute. This is the dining hall where the kids eat.

Behind my is the mascot for the school...the knight. And in the background is the main hall.

Tommy and Chloe (a few hours before they got engaged)

main hall again. So beautiful.

Well that's all for now! I had so much fun and I'm so excited for the two lovebirds. They'll get married August 7th in the L.A. temple. She asked me to be a bridesmaid so I'm super stoked about that!!

Camera problems.

2010-02-15T13:41:00.004-06:00

Ok, so for the past few years I've been using a Sony Cyber Shot camera...and I'm sad to say that it's broken. Luckily, my phone takes pretty good pictures...but now I really need to get a new camera. Any ideas? If anyone has one that they aren't using and want to sell for inexpensive, just let me know. Mark isn't on board with buying a new camera, which I understand where he's coming from. Things are tight while he's in school, so shelling out even $100 bucks for a camera is out of the question. But maybe something I can save up for. I guess I can mention it to my parent....ahem..hint mom and dad, that I would like a camera for my birthday. So for those of you who are camera-savvy....I'd like one that has a pretty good zoom, and that can focus well on faces. I'm no expert, so one that's relatively medium sized to small. I'm not sure what brands are better than others....so give me some advice if you have any :) This is what I have now.....

I'd really like something better than this one (not to dis this one...it's been great for me) It doesn't zoom all that well and can be blurry sometimes.

Dallas Snow!

2010-02-15T12:05:00.008-06:00

I know everyone and their mom have been posting pics about the incredible snow, but you know us Texas.....we get a little carried away!
So the snow came on Wednesday night and ALL day on Thursday, as most of you know. I had a great week set up for working...I was gonna sub for the music teacher for three days in a row. An awesome, and might I add, easy job. So needless to say, I was excited about my kush week. Then all the snow came. It was so fun though. The schools were closed Thur. and Fri so I got to just stay home. IT was a blessing though. I started feeling sick on Tuesday with bronchitis and all that junk in my chest...so the days off were so great. Now I'm feeling so much better.

Here are some pics from the snow days.

Me and Sadie

Mark....open your eyes!!!

Sadie's foot prints...I thought it was cute.

She smells something people...

part of the golf course that our apartment is on. On the right, there is a little frozen pond.

we're standing on the golf course....this is a view of our apartment building.

Mark wanted to make a huge snow ball. Even though most of the snow is melted now...his snowball is actually still there outside.

Me on the snow ball

Ha ha...this is when Mark was trying to bury Sadie in snow.

In the process of covering her in snow. He actually got pretty far until she decided to jump out.

Not our snowman..... but Sadie was very interested.

Hope everyone had an awesome snow weekend...wherever you live!! Cause I heard that 49 states had snow this past week. Weird!

Challenge

2010-01-24T17:38:00.002-06:00

Well, this challenge has been pretty challenging. Because I've reached my initial goal weight, I am finding it harder and harder to resist cheating. Cause when I get in the situation where there is a yummy treat, I think, "hey, I reached my goal, I'm ok with just staying this size..." But, I made a commitment to lose a few more pounds so I need to snap out of those thoughts and keep it together!!!! I have only cheated once per week so I"m still ok, but man has it been hard. My goal is 7 pounds and I've lost 2 so far, and it's been 3 weeks....I can do it!!!!!

Happy late new year!

2010-01-24T17:28:00.003-06:00

Sorry for the late post, but I've not been in the blogging mood lately....here's some pics from our fun New Year's we had with Stephanie, Helen, and the little girls! Oh and one of my new headboard for our bedroom :)

Stephanie took some other cute ones, but I need to get those from her and then I'll post them.

Challenge 4 begins....

2010-01-05T21:48:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was day one of challenge 4. IT went pretty well, I only had one moment where I almost ate something illegal. I feel like I've been doing these challenges for so long that it's just second nature, so I don't really have too many weak moments anymore...BUT these past 2 weeks I have had lots of fun having a few bites of decadent things....so Monday I had to reset my mind and get back to normal. Luckily, I didn't go too overboard and gain any weight over the holidays!! Whew! I was really worried on Sunday when I weighed myself to see what my real starting weight is, and to my surprise it was the same as my last weigh in for challenge 3! I was so relieved.

So here we go....10 weeks, 10 cheats, and LOTS of exercise. I'm about to go jog some before I get ready for bed!!

Good luck beauties!

December happenings.....

2010-01-05T20:41:00.004-06:00

We had a great Christmas this year.....We spent the holiday at my parents house in Houston, where it was surprisingly chilly this year. I get so excited when it actually gets cold for
Christmas! There are some Christmas's where it's 70 degrees and muggy! yuck, so this year it was nice and crisp outside. I drove down a couple of days early to hang out with my fam. Katherine and I went to see several movies, got to hang out with Tommy and talk about life, and also was able to spend some time with the parents....Very fun! We went shopping and did so well! We were able to find some tremendous deals and really didn't spend that much money because of all the sales. Here are some pics from that week...

This is me and Katherine right before we went to see a movie :)

Mark with his new work socks

Katherine passing out presents

My dad and Tommy on Christmas eve right after we ate some yummy Japanese food that my dad made.

View of the huge tree

Mark and I went home on the 26th because we had to work, but my mom and sister came up for a couple of days the next week. We had fun going to look at furniture, and found these awesome chairs! they massaged your feet, back, shoulders, and even your butt....so comfortable.

Mark and cute Sadie!

End of challenge 3!!!

2009-12-18T10:49:00.005-06:00

I cannot believe that challenge 3 is over!!! It seemed like such a long challenge but now that it's over, it's like it flew by so quickly. This was a tough challenge just because my goal was only 8 pounds and because of my asthma and problems working out, I thought I wouldn't be able to do it. The whole steroid drama and gaining a few pounds really discouraged me, but with following the rules and REALLY watching what I put in my mouth I'm happy to say I met my goal and lost 8.5 pounds! I know it's not that much compared to the last 2 challenges. (Challenge 1= 11 lbs. Challenge 2= 9 lbs.) I am now to the goal weight that I originally said that I wanted to get to after all of my challenges. This week we had a Beauty Dinner at the beast's house (Tanna's house) It was a blast! I had never met Tanna before so it was such a wonderful evening. We were able to discuss Challenge 4 and some of the changes that will take place. I'm so excited! Here are some pics from the night.....

Tanna is on top row, very furthest right with the black and white stripped shirt. She is such an amazing inspiration, so if anyone wants to join in on the next challenge let me know and I'll let you know how to sign up. This next challenge is going to be a little more strict, so if you are prepared to be accountable and REALLY follow the rules, then I promise that you'll be happy with the results. Now that I have my asthma under control, I am going to do challenge 4 and try to lose just about 4-5 pounds, but I want to tone up more. Meaning alot more exercise!

Here are some before and after shots!

Hope everyone is having a great holiday season!!! Hopefully I'll have some cute pics to upload soon.

Thoughts.....

2009-12-08T17:40:00.002-06:00

Lately I've been thinking alot about the past and the future. Not sure why, but maybe because I'm getting older and time seems to be passing by so fast. I have been married for 3.5 years! That is just crazy. I feel like I seriously just graduated from high school...not that I want to go back there, but time really has been on fast forward. I've been trying to enjoy the present more. Because, to be honest, I have usually been that type of person that says..."When Mark graduates from school I'll..." or "When Mark gets a full-time job..." like my life will start when those things happen. But really, in 5-10 years I know that I will be looking back on these years and miss them (I know I will love having kids and growing our family) but everyone looks back on those years they spent broke and in love and I know I'll love thinking about this time in our life. So, my new goal is to stop thinking about what a great time I'll have in the future and start enjoying these moments right now. So if you hear me complain just stop me!!!

New Washer and Dryer!!!

2009-11-28T20:47:00.004-06:00

We finally did it! Today we went to Best Buy and purchased our very own washer and dryer. It doesn't get delivered for two weeks, but that's ok because we still need our rentals to be picked up. I was initially planning on buying the Samsung front loader, but when I went to check them out the other day I saw these and they were so much less money. So Mark and I had to decide if we wanted to spend more for the fancier ones that did the same thing ...... We decided on the top loaders that act like front loaders...weird, I know. But they are really awesome! All the benefits of a top loader, but just turned on its side. It holds more than the fancier one too!! Anyways, I'm really excited!! I will take a pic of them when I get them in a couple of weeks, but until then....here is another pic I found :)

Whirlpool Cabrio

Thanksgiving!

2009-11-28T19:52:00.005-06:00

LOTS of pictures....cause that's really what people like to see.

This year was a little different because Mark had to work the day BEFORE and the day AFTER thanksgiving. It was tough cause that meant he couldn't even leave to drive to his parent's house until 10 pm Wed. night. So I tried to call him every hour until he arrived at 4 AM thursday morning cause I was so worried about him driving the 5.5 hours to Canyon. Poor mark! But it was a better day because he was able to be there. I, on the other hand, was able to fly to Canyon on Monday night so that I could spend a little more time there. We had a great time running errands, playing with the girls, and playing the game Sorry! with Porter. Here are some pics from our Thanksgiving week.....

Mark and his dad with the little girls watching football Thursday night.

Mark's dad, Jule, and our two nieces. Aren't they so cute??

So Thursday night, we set up this little whale tent that had a zipper to close the "mouth" of the whale. I got inside with the two little girls and pretended like we were all trapped in the whale's tummy, and they just LOVED it. I mean, I was in tears laughing cause they were just going crazy..throwing their bodies from the front to the back of the tent just screaming in laughter. I had to keep catching them cause the ground was hard underneath....it was too funny. As you can see, my hair was a little staticy by the tent! At the top of the picture you can see the white teeth that came down in the front of the tent. So much fun. After I got out, my bro-in-law David took his turn inside the tent and they had so much more fun with him. They zipped it all the way up and were tipping the tent all sorts of ways, and Ashley was laughing and screaming so loud that she started to lose her voice! I guess you had to be there to see how funny it was!

Mark and our bro-in-law David chillin' on the couch.

Good friends of the family, Becky and Sean. Their family always has Thanksgiving dinner with the Minium family every year. They were nice enough to take some nice pictures of our family this year.

Me playing Sorry! with the boys.

Becky and Sean took some family pics....here is Stephanie and her family.

Michael and his family.

Me and Mark (p.s.-excuse my still a little puffy cheeks)

Sadie and Deanna's busy day.....

2009-11-10T20:36:00.004-06:00

Today I didn't get a sub job, so I decided to get some much needed errands done. It just so happens that quite a few of those errands involved Sadie! So, we had a nice day running around in the car together. In the morning we woke up early and went with Mark to get a few donuts and a soda....Sadie loves going in the car with us. At home I got ALOT of cleaning done and while Sadie wasn't really involved in the process, she does follow me around all over the house. Then I had to take her to the groomers to get her nails clipped and other things cleaned so we headed over to our friends at Petsmart. They were really nice and finished up pretty quickly. NEXT we had to get Sadie's vet records transferred to a vet up her because she's a little behind on her shots. Luckily the vet and the groomers are both inside Petsmart so that trip did double duty! I was going to make an appointment, but the girl said that they had walk-in hours from 2-4 and they waive the office visit fee, so I'd just have to pay for the shots. Nice to know. Sadie and I headed back home for some lunch. After lunch we went back out to see the vet. She doesn't like the vet, but did pretty well considering. Two shots...short and sweet. Well, I guess it wasn't all that busy for Sadie, but it was for me. I was constantly in and out of my car. When I got home from the vet, I dropped her off and went to the store for some egg noodles for my crock pot dinner, came home, cooked the noodles, then decided that I really needed to fix my cell phone problem. So I went to the Sprint store, came home and then finally was able to sit down and eat my yummy dinner. Now I'm just waiting for Mark to get home so he can eat dinner too!! Here's a pic of me and Sadie after our busy day....

Oh, and that's her new holiday bear toy she got after her shots. It has a squeaky thing inside so she loves to chew on it to make it squeak. Soon, though, it will be just a ball of stuffing.

Pleasantly surprised.

2009-11-10T20:07:00.002-06:00

As you know, the whole steroid thing really messed me up. BUT, I'm happy to report it looks like all of that weird weight came off pretty fast. I've been bad and weigh myself every few days just to see what's going on. And the past two days it's like the scale just LIED to me. One day it was a certain number ;) and then all of a sudden the next two days it dropped like three pounds and stayed like that. I am so pleasantly surprised. When I started to feel normal again (about 4 days ago) I made sure that I ate normally and followed my regular eating habits. While I was on the meds there was NO way I could eat normally...I had to eat pretty consistently if I didn't want to be sick. Anyways, YEAH! I'm so glad that's over. My breathing is also soooo much better. I even went jogging a little and didn't have an asthma attack.

A new me....

2009-11-03T17:34:00.002-06:00

My dr. appt. went VERY well yesterday. Turns out my 10 days of hell weren't wasted. The steroids actually made a significant change to my breathing, which means that I had some residual infection that never cleared up. My face is still a little broken out and my cheeks are a little chubby, but I feel so much better otherwise. Now all I have to do is maintain my progress. So I'm going to continue taking my Advair to try and keep up the good lung function. Thanks for the sweet words and thoughts I got after my post a few days ago. It really meant alot that so many of you were thinking of me.

Now I have to work hard this week to get back on track and lost that extra 2.5 pounds I gained :(

soon?

2009-11-02T08:34:00.002-06:00

So Friday was the last day on the meds, but I'm still feeling them. My cheeks are still pretty "chipmunky". I really didn't gain that much on the medicine (like 2 pounds), a side effect though is that the fat deposits is your body change, so it's common to get chubby cheeks. Great. exactly what I need. I really didn't get them until Thursday and now I'm off the medicine so they're already going down. Thank goodness. I go to the dr. in just a little bit. maybe he will let me know how much longer this stuff stays in your system....

Pity-party....please excuse.

2009-10-29T22:28:00.003-05:00

Ok everyone....I am normally not a huge complainer on my posts, but I must write a little about my horrible horrible last 9 days!!!!!

So I went to the doc about my asthma.....again. He's good and seems to really want to help me. Last month I started on Advair instead of my Symbicort & Singulair regimen. Hoping that my peak flow (lung function test) would be improved after 4 weeks, I came back in last Tuesday. I was feeling a little under the weather so I chalk a little of my poor performance up to that. Needless to say, he didn't see much of a change. Sigh. Meaning more money and more crap that I must do. He then proceeds to give me an allergy test, to see if anything in my environment is causing my asthma to flare up. First they just do the stuff on my back....not painful, but itchy. After getting some results from that, they do the I.D. injections in my arms of the ones that were irritated on my back (about 12)...that means 12 little shots under my skin! Man were those annoying and extremely itchy. Turns out though, I'm not a terribly allergic person. I'm pretty allergic to dust mites and bermuda grass. Now, I know it was good to do the allergy test, just to rule some stuff out, but man o man, these things are expensive. I feel so horrible for seeing dollar signs every time I go to the dr. Yes I have insurance, but I still have to pay 20% of my visit.
Ok, so after the allergy/itchy test, he says that he wants to put me on an intense steroid therapy for 10 days to fight off anything that might be infected or causing irritation in my lungs/airways. I knew this was coming....I've known for months that this was my last resort. But bring it on, I thought. 10 days...a mere 10 days of uncomfortableness....I could handle that, right?

In chatting with him about the meds he said that I needed to do my best to go the whole 10 days taking the whole 60 mg a day. I thought to myself..."what is he talking about? why would I stop?" He told me that if need be, call and maybe they could go down to two pills instead of three a day. Again, I was a little aghast. Why would this be so difficult. It's just medicine. He told me that many people have to stop or cut the dosage because of the side effects, but that if I could just hold out the 10 days that it would be very beneficial. Ok doc.....whatever. just give me the prescription.

Overwhelming.

Words cannot describe the side effects. I felt ok the first 3 days. A little restless at night, a little tired during the day. No hunger attacks like he said would happen. But then day 4 hit. And it's been the same every day since. Can't sleep, even though every muscle in my body feels like it weighs a ton. The weird swirly, anxious feeling in my chest, while my heart beats so loud in my ears that I feel like I might pass out. And the hunger. I am hungry all the time....and when you're on a weight loss challenge, this can be a bit detrimental to your progress. Moodiness. My poor poor husband. Every night I go to bed crying, yelling at him, or just plain mean. I don't mean it, I just can't help it. I'm not moody all the time, luckily, it just goes up and down, but it's definitely worse at night, after my last dose. Laura and I did hang out on Tuesday night, which took my mind off of it. Thanks for hanging out with me Laura. I love you.

I've been fighting the whole eating when I feel the hungerness coming on, and just try to eat when I normally do. This has not worked. It only makes me feel worse. Sadly, the past couple of days, in order to keep my sanity, I've eaten pretty consistently throughout the day when I feel the swirly anxious feeling in my chest. Weirdly though, the food actually makes me feel so much better. WHY is that???? Now, I still have only cheated once. And I've tried to just eat healthy foods, often, in attempts to not gain a ton of weight. But when I feel like the whole world is just horrible, the yogurt and the sandwiches make it feel so much better. So Tanna, if you're reading this....please understand if my results are far from perfect tomorrow!!!

Tomorrow is my last day though!!!! I could cry because I'm so excited. Actually, I'm already crying a little right now because of no reason. I'm so sorry if anyone has tried to call or get in contact with me this week. I have not felt like talking to anyone. But it's almost over, and hopefully I will never have to be on this stuff again!!! So very sorry for writing this much about my dumb little problem. For me though, it's consumed every inch of my body and my emotions. Next week, on Monday, I have another appointment to see if the steroids helped my lung function. So....cross your fingers!
So there you go folks.....my quarterly rant. My next post should be much more positive.

P.S. I love Mark, who has not left me in the process of all of this.
P.P.S. I love Laura because she's so strong and wonderful.

Weekend in College Station and The Woodlands.

2009-10-14T20:56:00.005-05:00

This past weekend I was able to go see one of my very close friends, Jillana O'dell, in College Station for her baby shower. She had the baby prematurely so her shower was pushed back. I think it was even more fun because the baby was at the shower!!!!

The cute cake...which I didn't have even a piece :)

Me with the mommy and baby! Not sure why I am pulling on my shirt,
I think it was maybe snagged and I was trying to pull it in
place before the pic was shot....didn't do it in time I guess.

Me and baby Avlynn

My brother Scott went with me over to CS on Sat. for the shower and afterwards we went out to lunch and went to the famous tent sale. We didn't eat at Blue Baker, but I LOVE Blue Baker, so here's a picture of it.

We actually went to eat next door at Rosa's, which is yummy too! Scott would NOT let me take a picture of his face, so here's his shirt :(

I just stayed in CS for the day so that I could get back to The Woods and hang out with my sis. She's 8 years younger than me, but I feel like we have are such good friends. We love to go see movies, esp. since she works there and we see them for free :)

Me and my sis, Katherine, before we went to the movies to see Whip It.

Unfortunately Mark couldn't come and have fun with me this past weekend cause he had work. I did come back on Sunday, and Monday we were able to spend some time together. Oh, and last night he was scheduled to take a test, but as he was leaving he got an email that said class was canceled and the test will be next week instead. Yeah!! So we went to Costco and used our new membership (thanks Helen!!) It was so fun, we walked around, eating samples and looking and the weird things you can get in bulk. Then we went to Best Buy to look at Washer/ Dryers. We are in the market for some since we are renting now. Man, there are some nice pieces of machinery out there these days. I think I narrowed it down, and with Mark's discount, it won't be so much. That way we won't have to RENT a W/D every month!!
Anyways, it was a nice surprise to have been given the gift of time last night, cause we don't get to see eachother that often anymore because of our schedules. After we got home we just layed on couch and watched CSI and Flipping Out (Jeff Lewis is so funny!). Fun evening.
Hope everyone is having a good week so far!!!

The Trammel Zoo.

2009-10-14T20:24:00.005-05:00

Sorry mom, but it's true. You have a zoo at your house. My wonderful mother and father cannot say no to adopting or saving an animal. We've always had a couple of cats and maybe a dog, but this past year was really a big year in the pet saving department. Let's just go through their family of pets......

Casper....they've had him since I was 10 (14 years!!!) mostly outside cat, but he's getting old, so my mom lets him in on occasion.

Rascal (he and Casper are brothers)...same age. outside cat.

Thelma Lu. My mom had her flown in from California. She's huge and fluffy, she's called a Ragdoll cat. Inside cat..actually just lives in my mom's room 99% of time.

Peanut. We didn't really choose him, but he chose us when my parents moved into their new house 4 years ago. He just started showing up. Lives ONLY outside.

Max....he looks familiar doesn't he?? They rescued him after having so much fun with our Sadie.

G. That's his name...G. I got him from a friend in Lubbock who couldn't keep him anymore, so it's actually my fault for giving them this one, but my parents fell in love with him cause he's so chill and mellow. He probably won't stay with them for a long time, just until they can find him a nice home.

another one of G cause he's so cute.

Stella. A recent addition. She probably won't stay with them forever, just for now. She only lives upstairs.

Lastly, Toby (with my sis). He joined the family on Saturday. My parents were at Petco getting dog food and saw him when he was for up for adoption as a rescue. So, they caved and got him. He's very sweet though. Their excuse was that Max needed a friend when Sadie went home with us.

This one isn't theirs....she's MINE. Cute Sadie.

Well, I know that's alot of animals to keep track of, but I'm glad they were able to have a nice home and most of them were saved from living in a shelter and cages. Not all of them will be permanent, but for the time being, it's a zoo!!!

Monday, Monday...

2009-09-28T16:33:00.005-05:00

Howdy everyone! I forgot that I do have some fun pictures from a couple of weeks ago. My bestest and her hubby came over for some dinner, chatting, and a trip to get some ice cream. Don't panic....it was a cheat...but a well deserved one.

Today I subbed for the school I've been a regular at for the past couple of weeks. I was the art teacher today. Really fun. I kind of got really interested in this one project the 5th graders were doing. I will be back there tomorrow for the same job, so I'll finish it and take a pic of it cause it's so awesome.

So in annoying news....we got a notice on our door that reads..."It has come to our attention that you have added a member to your pet family. Please contact...." We've had our dog and cat with us for about a month but we've been waiting until this month to pay the pet deposit cause it's alot! and we didn't have the dinero until now. Anyways, not a big deal, just another thing to add to my list.

Laura & Daniel eating their yummy ice cream

Me and Laura

Just a random pic I took of Mark during one of our walks. He was squinting pretty bad, and I wanted to tell him to open his eyes, but he is still traumatized by meghan, laura, jessica, and heidi's picture taking incident 3 years ago! during out engagement pics meghan kept yelling at mark to open his eyes....it was so funny, but he hates it now whenever I say that to him. He He. Love you Meg!

Oh, and I copied one of the other beauties and put a ticker on my blog for my BMI and weight loss. Not sure I want everyone to know my BMI, but if you're looking at my blog, I hope you're my friend and loves me no matter what. IT's getting harder and harder to lost weight cause I'm so close to the goal. Please cheer me on for the last 4 pounds!!!

What's going on????

2009-09-26T17:16:00.003-05:00

Nothing really....sorry to report. The past couple of weeks I have been substitute teaching and working at a restaurant as a hostess two nights a week. I am so hoping that I can find a permanent sub job or a real job mid-year. That would be great. Mark is enjoying school, and is working as well. Sadie loves going to the lake! We've taken her every week over to Lewisville Lake, cause we live so close, and she absolutely loves it. I need to take pictures the next time we venture over there.
In recent news, my little bro Scotty just got his mission call to the Tacoma Washington mission. He leaves in Dec. and it's really hard to think of him leaving :( I know he'll do great, and that it'll go by fast, but two years without Scott is hard to imagine.

Just a thought I've been having recently....

I really have wanted to go to the mountains...weird I know. I'm a beach girl, but lately I've just wanted to see the mountains, climb them, be in the cold fresh air. Maybe cause it's hot, I don't know. Maybe next summer we'll take a trip....

Packing and Playing!

2009-09-04T21:07:00.004-05:00

I recently had the chance to go to Sugarland and "help" my sis-in-law Stephanie pack. While we didn't get a whole lot done, we were able to get her mind off stress (well I hope I did). We watched a movie, ate some yummy food, played with the girls, and watched some NCIS. While I was there, baby Ella was blessed at church so it was an eventful weekend! She looked so cute in her blessing dress. Stephanie did get a lot done while I played with the girls, so maybe my trip down there did help out. She also gave me some fantastic shelves, and some other goodies! I absolutely love them. Sorry, there are alot of pictures....enjoy!

Cute Mami..just for fun.

My bathroom with my new pictures of the beach from Steph.

One shelf.

The other shelf....not the final resting place, I was just trying it out here.

Ella and Ashley during Ella's tummy time.

Ella!!!!

Like the only picture I took of myself, you can see a little of Ella's face :)

Ashley being all Ashley!

That's it for now folks! I start subbing next week, and I kind of excited. I'm sad that I'm not teaching, but maybe this will give me a chance to get to know some principals and know the district for next year. Mark is working at Best Buy part time and we can get our discount in two weeks! not that we have any spare money to buy cool stuff, but it's always fun to think about! Happy weekend! And to my fellow beauties.....make your week three just as strong. Try to eat smart on Labor Day. No chips or fries! well, unless you decide to cheat.

Update on the Challenge!

2009-08-23T22:55:00.003-05:00

Ok, my second challenge is officially over as of Friday! I was really busy over the summer, so I only lost 8 pounds, but hey...that's still good! I am about to start challenge #3 tomorrow, which is 17 weeks long. I'm super pumped and excited that I will meet my goal and get to my desired weight this time! Only a few more pounds, so it shouldn't be hard to do in 17 weeks. Here are some pics of cute Sadie and me in my "Beauties and the Beast Challenge T-shirt"

About to go on a walk.

More of summer....

2009-08-17T14:30:00.004-05:00

Another fun trip we had this summer was for the 4th of July. Mark and I went up to see his parents in Canyon, where his brother Michael and family came as well. We had a fun few days playing around and watching the fireworks.

The pics are kind of out of order.....

Mark being funny at the museum

Porter and Morgan at Cadillac Ranch

Mark and his mom Helen in the car...not too exciting, but thought it was a good pic.

Mark and cute Morgan at the museum

Some of our best friends, Jason and Kelli with their son Ethan at the 4th of July parade.

Me showing off the cool drill at the museum.

Me and Porter waiting for the fireworks to start.

At Cadillac ranch

Anywho, we had a good time!! We did really miss Stephanie, David, Ashley, and Ella though.

Summer happenings....

2009-08-12T21:36:00.004-05:00

This summer has absolutely flown by. I am so sad that it's over, but I'm glad to be back permanently in Dallas with Mark. It's rough being away from each other.
Let me start off with the beginning of the summer.....

I started "nannying" for my cousins 4 kids who live in The Woodlands near my parents. I didn't take a ton of pictures with them because we were always so busy running around, but we had a blast. In these photos, there is little Sierra and Shane. Sierra is 2 1/2, and Shane is almost 5 in these pics.
Then, in July I went on vacation with their family to Destin, FL. We went to the beach everyday and watched movies....very fun!!

So one night I was almost asleep but I heard some little footsteps walking up the stairs to my room. This is what I saw when I turned on the light.....
You can't really see the clock, but it says 10:45 pm....way past her bed time.

Having some late night laughs...

Shane and Maiya at the Airforce museum.

This is one of the last days there, I was able to get Maiya and Hailee to smile, but Sierra was just exhausted...it's kind of funny.

New Baby!

2009-07-26T17:53:00.003-05:00

Some exciting news in the Minium family is that Mark and I have a new niece! Ella Kate was born two weeks ago..sorry for the late news, but we all know how blogging can take a back seat during the summer. She is absolutely precious and we love her so much. I was able to go visit her when she was about 6 days old.

This past week I went to Destin, FL with my cousin's family to help them out. It was alot of fun, but also alot of work. I enjoyed spending time with the kids at the beach and got a nice tan. I'm back in The Woodlands now, and Mark came down to see me when I got back last night. How sweet! So today we've just been relaxing and hanging out with Sadie (our dog). She's been staying here with me during the summer while he is going to school. So he doesn't get to see her as often. Although, tomorrow he is taking her back with him so they'll have LOTS of quality time together!!! Everything else is going well. Still no job....which is actually kind of depressing and worrying me, but everything will work out I suppose. It always does...even if it's not what you think. Hope everyone is having a great summer...Can't believe it's almost over!!!!

Hanging out in Canyon....and Challenge update

2009-07-02T23:32:00.003-05:00

Right now, Mark and I are in Canyon, TX visiting his parents and his brother's family for the 4th. We miss Stephanie, David, and Ashley (Tucker too!) but Steph is too pregnant to travel. Today we went to the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, and then had some hamburgers at this cookout at a bank. They were really good burgers. IT would have been nice to have some fries with those burgers....but no fried foods for me still ! After that we came back home...played ping pong, games, then had yummy dinner and home made ice cream!! Yes, I used a cheat, but it was totally worth it!

I know I haven't posted much about my 2nd challenge, but I'm still going strong. This is week 5 of Challenge #2. It's been a little harder to get all my workouts in just cause everyday isn't as scheduled as it is during the school year. I've only lost 3 pounds this challenge, which isn't bad but by this point in the last challenge I had lost 9 or 10! I guess I had more to lose then and I'm getting closer to my goal weight, but still...it's frustrating. I'm trying to kick it up this week so that next weeks weigh in will show some better results. Sorry no pictures...but I've taken quite a few and will download them when we get back.

Horrible blogger :(

2009-06-17T14:39:00.002-05:00

I can not believe what a bad blogger I've been lately. This summer is kicking my butt! Just because I've been super busy. Time for a little update.....

Well, after we moved to the DFW area, Mark and I had a week of relaxation while we unpacked and got our bearings. The previous weeks had been rather stressful, so it was nice to just sleep in, go to the pool, work out, and watch FRIENDS dvd's all day. Time for a reality check, and the next week it all begins. I start my job working as a nanny for my cousin and their 4 kids in The Woodlands. I work three days a week, but I'm there all day so it's full of running around! I am having lots of fun though :) Living with my parents and siblings for 4 days a week is weird, but it's nice. During the weekends I am going to drive back to see Mark. This weekend though I have to stay because I have to watch 2 of the kids while they go out of town. Hopefully Mark will come here for a couple of days to see me. An advantage of being here is that my bro. and sis in law live real close. Last week I was able to go visit Stephanie and my niece Ashley for some play time. Stephanie is very pregnant and is due next month, so I wanted to see her too :) I'm glad I will be able to be here and maybe help with Ashley as she gets closer.

Mark started school on the same day I started work. He is only taking 2 classes this semester because they are prerequisites for other classes, so I'm hoping they aren't too difficult for him. Sorry that I don't have any pictures!! I have taken some this week, so maybe this weekend I can upload them. I am still looking for a job for the fall, so please pray that I do!!!

We're here!!

2009-06-03T10:39:00.003-05:00

I can't post very much cause I don't have internet access yet...so I'm using the apartment complexes business center computer. Anyways, we moved on Saturday and set up our new apartment. It's looking pretty nice ! Lewisville is such a nice area. We're right next to Flower Mound and Highland Village, so there is alot of amenities around this area. I will update as soon as I can with pictures.

Week 4 and moving details...

2009-05-18T23:17:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone! I cannot believe this is week 5 already! I've made progress...I feel like it's slow, but progress none the less. LAst week I lost 2 pounds! So that's a total of 8 pounds in 4 weeks. I am hoping to lose atleast 4 more by the end of the challenge in two weeks...wish me luck :) I am so lucky to have all the support of the other beauties...getting their emails and reading their blogs has been very inspirational. Everytime I want to cheat, I think of Tanna and all the beauties and then have the strength to say..."no thanks." I have cheated 3 times (once already this week..boo...hoo) But I think it's pretty good. This weekend I might use a cheat on something sweet and scrumptious ....I have really been craving a Peanut Buster Parfait from DQ.

Yummy....

Maybe not though, it might not be worth it, especially id I want to reach my goal. For me though, it really helps when I atleast talk about what I want to eat, instead of keeping it to myself. Weird, huh? Ok, ok...on to more interesting things.....

This weekend we went to DFW to find an apartment and met my mom and sister there, and I'm proud to announce that we found a place in Lewisville, right next to Lake Lewisville. It's a pretty nice area, so I'm hoping that we like it. We officially move in Sat. May 30. That's next week!! I have so much packing to do it's crazy. I did manage to pack around 7 boxes today, so that's an accomplishment, I think. Thanks to Laura and Daniel for letting us all stay at their house. We had a very fun time watching Eagle Eye and Taken in HD. It was an awesome movie night :) Laura, we should do a monthly movie night when we move there....
Anywho, short post, I'm super tired from running and packing.

Problems

2009-05-13T13:45:00.001-05:00

Just FYI, sorry for the weird sizes, fonts, and colors of my last post. I tried a million times to get it all looking normal, but it won't. So, you'll just have to bear with the weirdness of it :)

Week 3 and Other events.....

2009-05-13T13:23:00.007-05:00

It's the middle of the third week and I'm still going strong! I did cheat once last week on Mark's birthday (yummy pizza) and then once this week. But other than that, I've been pretty diligent about what food I put into my mouth, running every evening, then doing a yoga workout when I get back from running. I hope it's working :)

In news, Mark had his 27th birthday last week. I made him a cake and we ordered Pizza hut pizza, his favorite. He bought himself a video game and just relaxed on his big day! Here is the yummy chocolate on chocolate cake that I made for him....

Then, last Friday he GRADUATED! I cannot express how absolutely proud of him I am. My camera really doesn't work all that well, so my wonderful sis-in-law took some pics (who drove all the way from Houston with David and Ashley). I will upload some of those tonight. I took a half-day to go to the ceremony (cause it was at 4:00pm) and to save seats. So many people came to support him! We missed Michael, Diane, Porter, and Morgan (mark's brother and family) though...we love and miss you guys! Thanks everyone who came, called, or sent a card...we really appreciate the thoughts and support! Here are some pics from the event......

This is Mark going to get his diploma...it's on the big screen :)

Shaking hands....

Mark's mom Helen, on right. And Mark's second mom, Janet, on left.

Here's some of our group.
From left...David, Stephanie, Jule, Helen, Mark, Me, little Ashley (niece)

Waiting on the ceremony to start.

Yesterday was our 3 year anniversary! It is so strange to think we've been married that long, but it's true! Mark got me my favorite, roses & lilies, and then we went to dinner. It was such a fun night :)

LAstly, my birthday is this Friday! I wish I could stay at my age forever, but I must turn one more year older. I think this is the first year where I really didn't want to get a year older. Weird...and I know it's only going to get worse as the number gets higher. We're going to Dallas on Friday to finalize our living situation for the summer, so we'll unfortunately be driving on my birthday. We will, however, be meeting my mom and sister there (and it'll be my mom's b-day on Sat.) so we'll party it up on Saturday together with Daniel and Laura!

This past weekend, we did have a celebration of all the May birthdays at Mark's parent's house. It's the biggest month in our family because so many events happen this month! Mark's mom, sister, and aunt have their birthday's in May. Mine and my mom's b-day is in May, as well as my anniversary and Mark's parent's anniversary. I'm probably missing something else, but what a crazy crazy month!!

Apartment help in DFW

2009-05-04T13:12:00.002-05:00

I know there might be a few of you out there that either live or have lived in the DFW area. I am having a hard time finding an apartment in the Lewisville, Flowermound, Coppell, or something close to that. We're moving in June, but I haven't found something yet. We are going in two weeks to sign a lease somewhere, but not sure where!!! There are a couple of places that I know we're going to check out, but I thought I'd ask some of you for any advice. Thanks so much!!

Challenge Update

2009-05-01T12:53:00.002-05:00

It's almost the end of week two and I thought I would update everyone on my progress. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then read my previous post to find out about my 42 day challenge.
Well, last week I lost two pounds....not bad, but a good start since I wasn't really able to work out that much because of my asthma crud. This week I only worked out 2 days because of my breathing, but I tried. I just weighed myself and I lost 3 pounds this week!! Isn't that great? I didn't want to lose a whole lot at one time, but gradually because that's the way it'll stay off.
What I've noticed this past two weeks is that you really don't notice how much junk you put into your mouth on a daily basis. A reese's cup here, a cookie there, or a couple of french fries from your husband's lunch... Working with kids, there is alot of snacks everywhere, and typically I just snacked whenever someone asked, "Do you want one?" Not anymore. But I haven't starved either. Cutting out all those snacking sweets has been the best thing. I feel more energized and not as bloated. I still have a ways to go, but seeing the number on the scale get smaller is the best feeling.

Alrighty, I should get back to work. hope all the other beauties out there are still going strong!

Oh, update on Mark's internship situation.....
As most of you know, Mark is going through the interview/office visit process in order to get an internship at a public accounting firm for next spring. It's been very stressful because the economy has made it difficult for companies to have multiple openings. They aren't hiring as many, thus making it a more competitive process. LAst week Mark went to Dallas to go visit a company called Weaver and Tidwell. This is his favorite out of the three he will visit with. He loved their offices and really enjoyed where it is located. They said he should know pretty quickly who they want to offer internships with, so we've been waiting nervously for a call.
Anyways, yesterday they called Mark and offered him a position!!!!!!! Words can't express how blessed I feel because that's taken care of. Mark is still trying to see if he wants to go on the other office visits and check the other companies out, but since this is his #1 company, he is going to most likely accept it. He has 10 days to decide, so he's trying to see what to do about the other visits. We'll see, but it's lookin pretty good! Hopefully he will do very well at his internship next year and then they will offer him a job...that' the goal at least.

42 Day Challenge!

2009-04-22T13:19:00.002-05:00

I am a little behind on this post...but it's all good. My friend Laura told me about this challenge that she is going to do, and I thought I would check into it. Her friend Tanna has proposed a 42 day challenge and I decided that I will do it too! Here are the guidelines:

1. No sweets.
2. Fried foods are out. (they are killers to your workouts)
3. No more than 20 ounces of coke/soda a day. That means NO larges. Even from Sonic. That means you gotta get the medium people.
4. 3-6 workouts a week. The more you do, the more results.
5. Drink at least 4 bottles of water a day.

Tanna thought that since there are 42 days left until June, that it gives everyone enough time to get fit before summer! It started on Monday so I'm already on day three! It hasn't been that hard to stay away from the sweets because I haven't been around any. Laura and I started the week off great with jogging, but now I'm sick and have to stick to walking while I get over my asthma flare up. But that's ok! There are 50 other people (men and women) doing that challenge together, so we are keeping up with eachother. We email Tanna every Saturday to let her know how much weight we've lost and how many times we cheated. Oh, we are allowed 6 cheats during the whole 6 week period. We made "cheat-eat tokens" and have to use one every time we decide we want to cheat and have something bad to eat. I haven't used mine yet! The only days I anticipate using them is on my birthday this next month, and maybe our anniversary. I am gonna try to stay true to the rules though! Wish me luck!!

Funny story!

2009-04-15T21:07:00.003-05:00

Ok, I know I told a couple people this story, but I thought everyone else should hear it (or read it) too!

On Monday it was one of my 4th grade student's birthday, so she asked if she could bring a treat for our reading class on Tuesday since she forgot to bring something. I said, sure! (our principal lets the students bring in treats if they're pre-wrapped). So on Tuesday morning she comes jogging in saying..."Mrs. M! Mrs. M! I brought some chocolate..can I pass them out?" I tell her to sit down and wait til everyone is here before passing them out. In the meantime, I am passing out a test that we took the previous week that they were very eager to get back. I tell her to go ahead and pass them out. She sets one on my desk, but I'm walking around the room passing stuff out so I don't get a good look at what kind of chocolate it......
I go back to my desk and glance at the chocolate....in my head I'm thinking..."well now, that looks like a bottle-shaped toy....wait...uh oh!" I pick it up and read the small print which suddenly looks huge....it reads "LIQUOR FILLED CHOCOLATE 5%" Oh my goodness I've never shouted like I did at that moment! Luckily all of the kids were too focused on the test I was passing out to open their chocolate yet...what a relief. Turns out there were four different flavors of this "chocolate." Jack Daniels, Kaluha, Southern Comfort, and Grand Marquier (or something like that...all types of alcohol.) It was a funny joke at school all day! Just thought you'r all get a kick out of this one.

New Mexico

2009-04-13T21:11:00.003-05:00

Howdy everyone...sorry for the lack of posts. Life just gets busier and busier as the school years comes to a close. In recent news, we are moving to Dallas/Fort Worth in the summer. I've mentioned the idea on some of my previous posts, but haven't been sure about it yet...so I didn't want to officially post it. We are sad to leave our family so close by, our friends, humidity-free weather, and wonderful ward, but need to move onto another place.
Mark hasn't confirmed which school he is going to attend (he got into several...and we just need to pray more about it-but we know it'll be in the DFW area). So, I've just been trying to find a job and a place to live!! Not too fun when you're working full-time and taking 9 hours graduate courses.

Last weekend, we did have an impromptu vacation to New Mexico to visit Mark's grandmother, aunts, and uncles. IT was so much fun! Although Mark's dad and our brother-in-law weren't able to come because of dumb tax season. We really missed them being there.
Here are some pictures that my lovely sister-in-law Stephanie took....

On our way to New Mexico, we stopped, quite a few times (but we had a baby and a pregnant lady in the car...so very understandable) love ya Steph!

Mark's mom with Ashley and Porter.

GG with Ashley and Morgan.

We're the only ones without kids, so naturally we wake up after most everyone...so Ashley came to wake us up...a very sweet surprise :)

Here's the group when we went to look at the land in Aztec.

Everything else is pretty much normal. Just living, working, and going to school. Mark is graduating next month though! Very exciting! I'm so proud of him.

Blonde?

2009-03-23T20:38:00.005-05:00

Sometimes...maybe once a year....I have this urge to dye my hair blonde. I've never done it before...gone lighter with highlights, but never blonde. I'm having one of those urges right now. So, should I just do it? It's not like I don't dye my hair ever, cause believe me...I dye it about once every three months to keep it from turning orange from fading. I have naturally brown hair like my siblings.....

Katherine (16)...My hair is closest to this color (naturally)

Here's everyone...you can't really tell cause the pic is kind of small, but my hair is the lightest.

but since I dyed it once, it started growing out and the once pretty dark brown turned a cherry coke, orangey color...so in an attempt to keep it chocolatey brown, I dye it my naturally brown color. Stupid, I know. Life shouldn't be this difficult.
So, just to have some fun, I found this website, www.hairmixer.com and uploaded a picture and paired it with some blond hair from celebrities...so it's just my face and their bodies :) Tell me what you think?

Sorry my face is kind of blurry...it's the only one that I had that fit perfectly. I also apologize for those of you taking the time to read this and thinking to yourselves, "I'd really rather be spending my time doing something other than looking at Deanna's crazy ideas."
Just leave a comment and let me know if you think I should actually do it this year....

The week before freedom!

2009-03-10T20:58:00.002-05:00

This has been a hard week so far, and I still have three more days of work!! Well, I didn't go to work yesterday because I have a pretty bad sinus infection and needed to just sleep some of it off. I"ve had these horrible constant headaches since last Wednesday and thought I was just having a migraine or allergies. Turns out it's a pretty bad sinus infection. So, now I'm taking some meds and it's much better! No more headaches!

So, today I did go to work and endured. Tomorrow will be the same...just work. Thursday I have to go to a special ed meeting at some other school, so technically I don't have to go to work :) Then Friday is the last day! Yeah! Those of you who are teachers know how desperately we need spring break.

On Sunday we are leaving to go to Dallas to see Daniel and Laura. We are very excited to hang out with them cause we don't get to see them as often as we like.
Nothing else is going on in the world of Mark and Deanna. Just waiting to hear back from graduate schools :) And I don't have any interesting pictures of us, cause let's face it....we are not very exciting. I will post soon with some exciting events from spring break!!

Deanna Needs......

2009-03-04T13:11:00.002-06:00

Becky tagged me for this "needs" post. It's really funny....you have to google your name plus the words "needs," for example..."Deanna needs." Then you have to post the top 7 things it came up with.

Just as a disclaimer for mine....since the last season of the Bachelorette, there are many not so good things associated with the word "Deanna." So, just be aware....

1. Deanna needs children (not sure what to say about this one....I do need children, but not right now)

2. Deanna needs a LOT of help, not a little. (ouch!)

3. Deanna needs to stop naming her things (I have no idea about this one!)

4. Deanna needs to get a life of her own (that is so not true about me...I feel like I do)

5. Deanna needs medication! (Ok....maybe I do, but I hope no one else thinks so)

6. Deanna needs to get over thinking she should be the top runner of a pedestal (this one really didn't make grammatical sense to me...but I get what it's saying)

7. Deanna needs to make up her mind! (enough said)

I normally don't do a whole lot of tags, but I had fun looking up the stuff and seeing if it actually applied to me :) So, now I tag Meghan, Laura Silver, and Laura Straehla...if you guys want to do it...you don't have to!

Life on the weekends....

2009-03-01T12:14:00.002-06:00

I don't have much to post about, but thought I'd better write something. Our good friends, Jason & Kelli Dubois and their son Ethan came to visit yesterday. We had lots of fun just catching up, playing Wii, going to the park, and eating out at yummy Spanky's restaurant. All last week it was warm and sunny, so I thought how fun it would be to go for a walk with Sadie on Saturday....well, we did go for a walk but it was very chilly. Dumb cold fronts. I do miss the consistent hot weather in The Woodlands :( Could always wear flip flops....always with short sleeve shirts, and never had to wear gloves. I hate wearing gloves. It's like the second you put them on, your nose starts to itch, or your forehead or cheek.

Hopefully it'll warm up again next week. I am totally counting down the hours until Spring Break. We are going to Dallas/Fort Worth to see Daniel and Laura as well as to look at some of the universities there. My mom and sister are driving up and will hang out with us for a couple of days. IT'll be alot of fun!!!!

An update on Mark's internship situation: He has 9 interviews that he will go to in the next few weeks, including MANY pre-interview dinners at nice restaurants. Do I get to go to these dinners? nope. I will be at home eating whatever I can get while those companies wine and dine him...well without the wine. The pre-interview dinners just help to make the interview process a little more comfortable and gives them a chance to chat beforehand. I'm excited for him. I really do hope that he gets some offers for an intership in April. That's pretty much all that's been going on in our lives...........hope everyone else is having a good weekend!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-16T18:55:00.002-06:00

What a day! Here are some pics from our rather productive Valentine's day. I've been spending the nights at this woman's house on Friday nights because she is terminally ill and needs someone to help her at night, so I don't get much sleep because I have to listen for her and help her in the night with her machine....anyways...because of this, I get home in the morning around 9:30 and can't go back to sleep so I just start the day. The last couple of Saturdays we've been pretty productive, including V-day!

We shampooed the carpets and it was soooo nice!! Sadie and Mark played football when it was all dry that evening :)

This is us right before we went to Eat at Linda's Cafe (it's a small Filipino place that has GREAT food!!)

My pretty flowers!

Hope everyone else had a great day, too! I also took a test that day online and I'm pretty sure I got an A. I will know tomorrow.
As most of you know, Mark will be graduating in May with his undergrad, so in the fall he'll be starting his Master's degree in Accounting. We, of course, applied to Tech (cause we're already here) but are also applying to many other schools. So, I've been very busy helping him get all of his applications done, the resumes, references, essays, etc. It's like a full-time job! It's worth it though. It just gets us closer to the end of school!!! So this summer is the unknown....where will Mark and Deanna live??? We have our preferences, but are not gonna say for sure where we will be until we have all of our applications back and we can make an informed decision. Where do you all think we should go? Leave me a comment and give us your opinions.....Lubbock, Dallas, Houston, Seattle, Tallahassee, Miami....

Happy Friday the 13th!!

2009-02-13T19:02:00.003-06:00

I hope everyone is having a fun, weird, and strange Friday the 13th ! Today at school, the kids had their Valentine's Day parties. There was soooo much junk food, candy, chips, everything you can think of!! Since I don't have my own class (thank goodness), I just went around to visit some of my students. They gave me the cutest valentine's and cards. They are so sweet.
At our school, we do this thing called a Secret Pal. It's like Secret Santa, but throughout the whole year, for all of the holidays. Since this is the last holiday for the school year it was "reveal" day when we give our presents. My secret pal was so sweet and got me this awesome bracelet. I will take a picture of it, but basically, it's one of those thick plastic ones. Around the bracelet it says "Make a difference." I guess Nordstrom is selling them like candy and they're really popular. I have no idea though, I don't keep up with those sort of things. It's cute though...very original gift. She also got me a little sweep and dust pan. I know that sounds funny and a weird gift, but it's super cute! It is "green" and is made of all this recycled material and has pink flowers on the handles. Very fashionable little thing.
Just thought everyone's day would be better if they read about my cool gifts! not likely, but hey...i tried :)

what i want...

2009-02-04T23:26:00.006-06:00

I just got done writing a really long 8 page paper. I know I should have started it sooner, but to be honest, I really didn't want to. Sometimes I just write better when I know I have to finish. Does that happen to anyone else?
On another note, I'm really anxious to just play and relax. I would love to go down to Houston and hang out with Stephanie and Ashley and go shopping or play with Ashley and all of her toys! Or fly out to Arizona and play in the sand with Porter and Morgan at the park. I just miss seeing my nieces and nephew so much :( Being so far away is no fun. What I'd also like is just a weekend not to think about anything....like work or stupid homework...just to see a movie, go out to dinner, or go shopping. I'm in a big rut at work right now with getting ready for the TAKS tests, so my brain is pretty much fried by the time I get home.
Wo to me. Sorry for the pity party, but sometimes when it's 11:33 at night you just gotta vent a little.

Hurry up summer!! we want you to be here sooner!

Here are some pictures of the snow we got last week I know it doesn't look like much, but it was alot for a city not used to ice and snow.

A pic from out apartment window. sorry so blurry.

This is a view from my portable to the school entrance that I had to walk in every time I wanted to walk into the main building. This was after school, so there wasn't as much ice.
PRetty treacherous for a klutz like me.

SNOW!!! and lots of it!

2009-01-27T13:13:00.002-06:00

I'm at work so I can't post much, but man is it snowing here! It started last night and never really stopped. I kind of like the snow....it just feels so clean and fresh. I took some pictures so I will post them when I get home. The kids are freaking out..I took some of them trying to walk back in the building. My classroom is in a portable, so going in and out of the main building is very difficult. So my aid and I just stay out here and wait for the kids to come here. (we can do that cause I'm not a regular ed teacher, and the kids come to my room for specific subjects during the day.)

Also, happy birthday to my sister Katherine!! She is turning 16 today. I cannot believe it. She still seems like she's 12. (well, she acts like it alot). Love you sis!

Lonely Saturday :(

2009-01-24T20:20:00.002-06:00

I'm alone today....Mark went to Stephenville with his dad to see a WTAMU basketball game. I was invited, but to be honest, I don't like watching sporting events. Well, except for lacrosse and water polo. Plus, somebody had to stay home with Sadie. I was thinking I could get alot of stuff done, but knowing I was alone just made me want to stay in bed. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind being by myself, but when you have stuff to do, it just doesn't feel as productive when you have no one to come home to. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I miss Mark, and I love it that he's home alot. PArt of me wants him to get out there, finish up school and get a grown up job, but then another part of me really enjoys having him home all the time(or atleast home when I'm home during the evenings and weekends). The animals like it too. Sadie gets really anxious when MArk leaves....she kind of likes him better because he plays with her alot.

So, after forcing myself to leave the house, I went to Target for some things, and now I'm working on laundry.

Oh, and by the way, my best friend Meghan had her baby on Thursday. She had a girl and named her Danielle Marie Huntsman and she's quite the looker. They come home from the hospital tomorrow! Congrats Meg, I love you!

Another scary day!

2009-01-22T13:14:00.003-06:00

I'm probably the worst pet owner ever because things just keep happening to my animals. I'm sure you all remember me posting a few months ago about my dog getting into some of her pills and having to have her stomach pumped.....well, we had another incident last Friday...but with the cat.

Mark left on Thursday afternoon to go help take care of our niece Ashley for a couple of days, so I was by myself. Sadie ate a ton of the cat food Wednesday, so she was throwing up alot on Thursday. I had to go get new cat food because it was all gone....so when I got back I filled up Mami's bowl so she could eat dinner. Thursday right after school, I noticed she didn't come right away, but I didn't think anything of it because sometimes she'll stay hidden for a day, just sleeping in the clothes basket, or in the back of my closet. Thursday night, I noticed she hadn't even touched her food, but again thought maybe the dog chased her and made her mad and she was hiding. Friday I came home for lunch to check on my vomiting dog...but still no Mami. Panic began to surface. I looked everywhere in the house...frantically looking. I had to leave because I had to go back to school, I had to teach math class. The whole time I was teaching, I was worrying to death...thinking of all the places I hadn't looked. I raced home and began tearing the house apart again, but this time I was crying and calling Mark every few minutes. I said a prayer to ask that Heavenly Father help me find my little kitty, and then decided to go look outside. I knocked on all the doors around our apartment. Only 2 or 3 people were even home, one girl though, said that she saw a little gray cat on the stairs two buildings over. I started in that direction, looking at the stairs and knocking on doors. Nothing. Finally I guess I just started weeping and said, "Mami !" really loud. Then suddenly, I heard, "meow" very quietly. I looked up to the second story of apartments and next to some bikes was my precious Mami !! I ran upstairs and then she ran towards me, jumping up on my legs. I was sure her night outside was not very pleasant because she looked happy to see me.

The only reason I was so upset is because she is strictly an inside cat. She is de-clawed and can't defend herself if presented with a hostile situation, like with another cat, owl, or dog. Maybe I baby her too much, or just was worried over nothing, but this cat has never lived outside before, so I wasn't sure what she would do once she got outside. Sometimes when we are leaving to go outside, she gets interested and pokes her head out. She must have run out behind me when I was letting Sadie outside, or when I was leaving. It was so scary thinking that she was lost. Luckily, I found her....now I am very aware about where she is when I open the door. this will never happen again !!!

I'm sure Laura's thinking, what was I thinking letting her have my kitty?!! I'm sorry Laura....Mami has gotten the royal treatment the past few days to make up for my inability to take care of her. Salmon, Mackerel, and belly scratches. She has never been happier :)

Time flies between posts!

2009-01-12T22:29:00.005-06:00

I am one of those people now who have so much time in between each post...I am sorry to those of you who keep up. It's been hard this semester with school, work, and just life.

Well...this past month has been exciting. I went to Salt Lake City to see Meghan and to throw her a baby shower. It was so fun to see her and just talk. I miss her so much! My camera died so I'm waiting for her to send me some of her pictures that we took. Here are some of the set-up of all the food and one of her going through some of her gifts.

Signing table with the favors that not many people took.

Turkey wraps from Jason's deli, chips, salsa, and veggies (YUMMY!)

Pretty Meg!

It was hard to plan and do stuff for the shower just cause I don't live there and didn't know the places that I ordered flowers and food from. I think it turned out well and everyone had a good time :)

Although my trip there was fun, the flights to and from were tough cause I had delays in New Mexico. The flight there wasn't too bad, but on the way back my flight was delayed 4.5 hours. I was so bored. Luckily I brought I book, The Host, by Stephenie Meyer.
I got home on Sunday night (well, technically Monday because I got in at 1:30 am). We slept most of the day and then left for The Woodlands at midnight that night. We weren't planning on leaving that late/early, but we got the car all packed and weren't tired, so we decided that we should just leave now.We brought Mami and Sadie with us...in my car. It wasn't too bad, but the space was limited and there were a few hours of "meowing" really loud. Sadie rides in the car all the time, so she's used to it. Mami on the other hand, hasn't been on a car trip since we moved up to Lubbock in 07...so let's just say it was interesting. She had a great time at my parent's house and roamed around all day everyday just exploring. This is what Sadie looked like alot of the trip...with her buns in the air trying to convince me to let her sit in my lap.

We got to The Woodlands at around 9 am and slept for a few hours. We stayed there for about a week and half...it was so much fun. We went to the mall, the galleria, a bridal shower and played Wii alot. It was fun to hang out with Tommy, especially, because he's been gone for 2 years! Here are some shots of Christmas morning....

From left, my mom, katherine, Mark. Waiting to open gifts.

Tommy playing his new guitar

Katherine FINALLY reading Twilight. I've been trying to get her to actually read them for a year now. She got them for Christmas and started reading that day! Mami thought it would be nice to encourage her.

Scott kind of looking into space...not sure why...

Of course, Mami had to join in on the party downstairs.

I have a few more pictures that we took at my cousin David's house, but I'm waiting for them to be sent to me. I will post those soon.
We had alot of fun relaxing and just hanging out with family. We finally came back to Lubbock and started back to school and work this last week.

Throughout the break though, my brother-in-law, David, had to undergo a pretty serious surgery to remove a growth on one of his lungs. They were up in Denver when he went into the hospital after having pnemonia, so he had to stay there for the surgery. You can read Stephanie's blog to read more about what happened. He's alright, but had to have another surgery today because of some air bubbles in his lungs. We are thinking and praying about him, Steph, and Ashley! Love you guys!

My niece Ashley is with my in-laws in Amarillo this week while Stephanie went back up to Denver to be with David today. We went to Amarillo this past weekend to see Stephanie and Ashley when they flew in and got to spend some time with them before Stephanie had to leave again. Mark is going to go help watch Ashley during the day sometime this week so that his mom can go to work. I didn't take any pictures while we were there, but trust me...Ashley is darn cute, and Stephanie is glowing!

This has been a pretty long post and I apologize, I just wanted to update everyone on our lives this holiday season!!

Happy New Blog!

2009-01-02T16:51:00.003-06:00

I am just going to post quickly...then get back to posting later because I'm tired. We drove from Houston back up to Lubbock today...ugh...a long trip. But...when I came in to check my email..to my surprise I had an email with wonderful presents inside....New blog background and accessories. A present from my sister-in-law Stephanie. Becky made them and I couldn't ask for a better looking blog. Thanks so much you two. I wish I could figure out how to make them myself....but luckily I don't have to :) Love you Steph, hope everything is going well and you travel safely tomorrow.

End of semester!!!

2008-12-10T11:21:00.003-06:00

This is basically how I feel after this semester of school and work. The last week of my classes, where everything was due, I worked so hard. I went to work all day and then the second I came home...worked on papers and projects. I ended up with A's in two classes and I'm still waiting on my teacher to give grades for my third class.

In other news, Thanksgiving was fun! We spent the day before Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving day with Mark's family in Canyon. Mark's sister Stephanie and her family came also...it was so fun to see them and hang out with little Ashley. Then right after the meal, we drove all the way down to Houston to see my brother Tommy who just got home from his mission. It was a long and tiring trip, but it was worth it to see him.

Now, I'm just counting down the minutes until we get out for Christmas break. We have all this testing at school and it really stinks because it is very monotonous. Next week I get to go see Meghan though! And I am so excited to see her! The shower will be so much fun and a nice break from life here in Lubbock. Well, I hope everyone is having a great holiday season. I'll post pictures soon of the Minium happenings !

I LOVE TWILIGHT!!

2008-12-02T00:27:00.003-06:00

I know that I am one of the dorks that absolutely can't get enough of everything Twilight, but I just can't help it. I was really reluctant to go see the movie just because I love the story that I have in my head so much and I hate ruining that with someone else's idea of the story. I did go this week...twice. Once with my sister-in-law Stephanie and mother-in-law, and then again with my sister Katherine. Most of you who read this probably have read all the books and seen the movie, but I really enjoyed the movie. Yes, there were many parts that weren't in the movie, but what do you expect?? The movie would have been 6 hours long if they included everything.

I can't wait to see New Moon next summer (I think that's when they'll be finished with it)! Just wanted to post my love for Twilight!!

Friends!

2008-11-23T15:49:00.005-06:00

Living here in Lubbock has been hard for me, mainly because I'm far away from my best friends, Laura and Meghan. Meghan is all the way up in SLC, and Laura is in Dallas (not as far, but it seems far!) I met Laura when I moved to College Station almost 4 years ago. We were both transferring to A&M in Jan. 05 and needed roommates. We contacted each other through the housing coordinator in the ward and were instant friends. The first time we talked on the phone, we talked for an hour and a half! Those of you who know her, know that she does not come across as the petite woman that she is...she has a big personality and can talk for hours about the best gossip :) The first time we met, I was expecting to see someone bigger just because on the phone she seemed so strong and sure of herself, but when she opened the door, I saw a cute petite girl that didn't at all go with her voice ! Goes to show, just because you're small in stature, doesn't mean your personality is small. She is one of the most confidant and "sure of herself" person I know. I love you Laura!! We both were going through alot when we moved to CS and basically spent the spring semester just us, watching Alias and eating blackberry cobbler. We didn't date, didn't really go out to parties, we just needed time to heal from our hard times before our move to CS. I'd like to think we got eachother through that.

This is a picture of us in Florida when we went in 2005.
Look how tan we were!

At her wedding reception/open house in Houston. June 2006.

Hopefully, all of our scheming will do us good and Mark and I will live within walking distance of her and Daniel....then we'll have babies at the same time and grow old together ! Everytime we talk, we have extensive conversations about this plan of ours :) I know we're silly!

Now, Meghan and I were friends in high school. Well, I was a senior and she was a junior....so not all of high school. We were in the same PE class and had so much fun not doing what our coach told us to do. She was dating Peter then (who I knew from church), and I was dating one of her friends. Even though we didn't know each other that well, we became pretty close friends fast. I went to Utah to go to school but then decided to transfer to A&M. I knew that she was going there, so I contacted her! She told me that she had joined the church and that Peter was actually leaving for his mission in just a few days. After I moved to CS, we reunited and became best friends. I like our friendship because we have always been able to be honest with each other, even when it's not what the other one wants to hear. A funny fact is that, all of the moves that Meghan has had, I've been there moving all her stuff...from her dorm into her apartment with Lindsey, from the apartment with Lindsey to my apartment, from my apartment to the one with Tamara (well, she did most of that one, we helped when we got home from our honeymoon), even when it was my one-year anniversary, and she had already moved to Utah, Mark and I somehow got the job of helping her dad move her stuff into a truck. We love you Mego1119. We wouldn't have done that for anyone else.

Now she's so far away and I can't help her move!! That makes me so sad, but when we're not all in college I promise to help move her into her next home!

This post is also about an exciting trip I'm making in a few weeks! I am going up to Utah to see my wonderful friend Meghan. I'm throwing her a shower and it's gonna be so much fun. It's getting so close and little Danielle will be here soon! Can't wait to meet her! Here are some pics from about two years ago. She's going to complain about the first one because she doesn't think she looks good during my wedding. I think she looks beautiful though!

Beware!

2008-11-17T22:47:00.003-06:00

Ok, so I tend to overreact sometimes when it comes to computers, cars, appliances, and my pets. The last week my computer has been acting a little funny, and I instantly know what that means.....virus! In college it happened to me all the time even though I had an antivirus...it's just inevitable with all of the new viruses (and bad people who create them). Or maybe just because I'm so very unlucky with that sort of stuff. The virus is something called "Antivirus 2009" and it tricks you into thinking that it's a legit antivirus because it prompts you to buy it and everything.

IT fakes out by "blue screening" you computer when it really isn't crashing....it's just pretending to crash and log back on. It will keep showing up as a pop up from your lower tool bar more frequently saying that it has found viruses and that you need to destroy the risks now. Then it prompts you for a registration key and email address. DO NOT trust this....or give it your credit card info. Luckily, I knew I was looking for something fishy on my computer so I googled "Antinirus 2009" and found out that it's some type of spyware. Thanks to Sean Usleton, my computer is clean and virus free. I was so freaked out last night that I was contemplating taking it to some IT guys up at Tech. I didn't have to because Sean talked me through what to do.

If you do happen to have this problem on your computer, go to the following link and download Malwarebytes' Antimalware . Sean gave me the link and I downloaded the free program and my problems were fixed....yeah!

Here is the link on how to remove the program:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/malware-removal/uninstall-antivirus-2009

It starts at about halfway down the page with "Automated Removal
Instructions for Antivirus 2009 using Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware".

Thanks Sean... you are a true life saver!!!!

Tommy!!

2008-11-10T22:03:00.003-06:00

This is a picture of the night Tommy went to the temple for the first time. This was two years ago!!
This month, well about two weeks from today, he will be coming home from his two year mission to Roseville, CA. I have missed him so much!!! I can't wait to see him!

Nothing much

2008-11-10T21:55:00.002-06:00

Sorry for the lack of posts, but seriously so busy! Two weekends ago we got to see our friends, Laura and Daniel...they came into town to see us on their way to a family event. It was so nice to see them! Every time Laura leaves, I get this empty sad feeling, so she and I are trying to plan so that we will live near each other in the future. Our other friends, Jason and Kelly also came in that weekend as well. We went out to eat, got our toes done and just played. It was so much fun. After all the fun people left, Mark and I were sad. We're really looking forward to seeing our families for the holidays real soon!

Tagged!

2008-10-21T11:44:00.002-05:00

Stephanie tagged me a while ago, but I never posted my responses....so here it goes...

Ten things I can't live without:

1. Family and Friends
2. the church
3. hair straightener
4. internet/email/blogs
5. Edward Cullen
6. eye liner
7. FRIENDS dvd's
8. Target
9. flip flops (I know they were so 4 years ago, but I love them)
10. freeze pops

I tag: Melissa W., Jessica B., Laura S., and Janelle R.

Having fun during reading class!

2008-10-10T20:26:00.002-05:00

Here are some pics of me and my second grade reading class. I teach 2nd and 4th reading everyday, plus 2 resource classes for 3 special ed. 4th graders.

Cute huh!???