Big Changes

Wow what an eventful 2 weeks we’ve had! My big bro and his wifey surprised us all by returning from Africa for a short visit. They didn’t want to miss the little bro’s wedding, and I know everyone was glad they could be apart of the celebration….speaking of that….congrats to the newlyweds!

My poor parents are probably pooped having 3 weddings in a matter of 7 months now! Crazy! It was beautiful and we especially enjoyed the Pappasitos and mariachi band for the reception :) I think one of my favorite memories from the night was when 5 yr. old cousin David

made a request for them to play “Feliz Navidad”….and they actually did! All the kid cousins jumped up and danced and sang along. It was quite a moment!

We had a great time catching up with some very close family from out of town. A few of the aunties had fun telling me when I "really looked pregnant" or not, based on the outfit I was wearing for the moment:) We hadn’t seen my cousin Danyne or her two daughters, Diana & Danynee (both 8 yrs old now) for over 4 years! They live in Africa and run an orphanage along with many other businesses. Since we saw them last, she’s become a “Mrs”, and added a new little boy, Jagpal to the fam (6months).

It was AWESOME to spend quality time loving on all those kiddos and getting to know them even better. My San Antonio cousin, Melissa brought her new baby Jeremiah (4 months) and hubby Michael as well. We have alot of fun thinking about our baby boys all growing up to be as close as we three girls are...traveling the world and making so many memories together. I was also informed by Melis that I “need” to have this baby on 3-4 (we’re due on March 5th so it’s possible) because Jag was born on 5-6, and Jeremiah on 7-8! Isn’t that so fun and ironic?!

The baby seems to be doing great, and the doc says we ‘re progressing “beautifully” so that’s a good sign.

We’re looking forward to this next week’s Thanksgiving festivities, as we get to celebrate with both our families this year! So…more to come soon :) Oh, and as soon as I get more pics of all rest of the fam I'll post them as well :)

Costumes

So with all the hoopla and costume buying for some of you guys this week...I had to post this:
A check-cashing truck shows up every week at our work, on pay day. We've gotten to know the drivers pretty well since, well, we see them every week. In walks the man driver today just as I'm comin' out of the bathroom and he yells out

"WOW COOL COSTUME!"

I was a little confused, and looking around at exactly who he was talking to (nobody had any costumes on). Then he said,

"IT LOOKS LIKE ONE OF THOSE PREGNANT NEWLYWEDS!"

It's the new rage...I mean, come on man, catch up, everybody's wearing it :)

Yo Tengo Gozo

Wow, it’s amazing how time flies! There is so much going on in our lives, that I can hardly keep up, much less post about it!

Okay, so let’s go back to this past week ~
Happy b-day to my Mama!

For part of her present, Billy and I took her flower shopping for a new flowerbed we’re planting for her, and then the other part was a visit with us for a 21 week sonogram!

As soon as we left, mom went shppping and said “I saw my grandson today and I’m a sucker!” The baby was so fun to watch and kicking like crazy. He was pulling his little toes down into his face, and playing with his hands and feet.

The doctor said my placenta is in the front, and he’s kicking right into it like a cushiony pillow, so that’s why I haven’t felt him a whole lot yet….but I HAVE FINALLY FELT HIM!!! What a cool feeling! It’s been sort of like when I get on amusement park ride that's dropping really fast, or sometimes it’s a jittery feeling like I’m nervous, or the most recent one was kind of a spiraly feeling…. :)


He is right on track with his growth, and everything including his heart looks perfect! There’s been many times, we’ve been given words of encouragement through this pregnancy (thank you!) that I am carrying a “JOY BABY”, and that this little boy is going to "bring us joy and not sorrow!" It was such a strong message from one of my very dear friends, that before we even knew for sure he was a boy, she sent me an email and said “I still think it’s a boy and I kept asking the Lord, ‘how in the world can they name a boy Joy?’” ...and we're still working on that, lol! but it’s true, he has already given us so much joy, and God has given us many chances to be a light to our unsaved and lost friends through every step of the way.

The other day at work, I was singing to myself “Yo tengo gozo gozo gozo gozo in my (Corazon) pancita! Donde?!” (for you non-spanish speakers, it was a version of “I’ve got the joy joy joy joy down in my heart only I changed it to” down in my belly”). My coworkers thought I was crazy, but I just couldn’t hide that God has given us a blessing in the form of this little living creature! How can anyone ever deny that he is alive? He already had every piece of information that will make him the man he will be on the day he was formed!

This past week also held much celebration for the upcoming wedding of my little bro Aaron and his beautiful lady Rachel.

There were two showers held in their honor and each one was special and unique. I can’t believe in less than 3 weeks we will all 3 be married and “all growed up”. Where does the time go? I know it sounds silly but just today I got emotional about our old house. Not that I miss the house, but for some reason, it hit me that the last Mohican (Aaron) is getting married and now Mom and Dad’s will just be Mom and Dad’s house-the place where we all get together and visit now. WEIRD! I am SO THANKFUL that God has answered our families prayers for AWESOME and WONDERFUL and FUN extended family members….I am proud and very, very blessed to sit at the table with my fam, and the UNIQUE and CHARMING 3 additions (and a half) we have all brought to that table. Life couldn’t get any better...could it?

Pictures for the Needy

LOL.It was quite a weird feeling to have people asking to see pictures but I guess that's what happens when you're having a baby! I had mom take some of us last night at her place...it was quite the fun photogrpahy session, as she was laughing at our goofy poses, and Billy's funny comments like on the close up belly shots below when he asked me "which is bigger, yours or mine??" ...she laughed so much at least 97.999% of the pictures came out blurry :) Then on top of that, my blouse ended up serving as camoflauge, as the pattern pretty much takes away from even the slightest appearance of a baby bump. It's okay we managed to get a few for the viewing audience. Hope you enjoy.

Should it be Will? Or Joseph?

Okay okay, so I'm so sorry for waiting so long to post this but IT'S A BOY!!! We've been saying that since day #1, and now we're officially right! Wahhoo! We had a full blown anatomy scan at the last doctors visit. The doctor asked if we wanted to know what it was...I told her "we think it's a boy but have no idea"...then she said "well, you're right...do you see that?" and pointed to the screen. We looked at each other and said "yes!" and then she zoomed in and goes "oh my! That's impressive!"

They measured every inch of our little son, and he was acting so cute! The doctor would press down on my stomach to make him move (so she could get a different angle of him to measure)and he would just be kicking and pushing his hands up right back at her! The picture below shows him doing just that.We were laughing so hard at him, entertaining us the whole time.



He's measuring in at about the 90th percentile for everything except his legs but that was to be expected, as his legs haven't quite caught up yet at this point of his development. With wide-eyes, the doctor looked at us and said "your baby's got big EVERYTHING!" We all smiled and knew she was eluding to other things than just his arms...

We've slowly been talking through some names, but nothing is set in stone yet. I keep telling Billy we should at least use one of his names...William or Joseph...they are both great and have great meanings and it would be special to pass them on to the boy who carries on our name from here on out...but you never know, we may just come up with something totally new and unusual too!

The weekend after Ike we got to spend a few days with Billy's parents for a family wedding. We hadn't seen them since our Cali reception in May, so they were thrilled to see us married...and with a grandbaby on the way. As soon as we went to hug them in the parking lot, his mom yelled out at my stomach "Hi baby! Nana loves you!" and then each morning, when we woke up she would do it again...she said the baby needed to get to know her voice. Lol. So when we dropped them off at the airport, we hugged them, blew kisses and got back in the car. They made it all the way in the airport with bags in hand, and then all of a sudden his mom makes a mad dash across the road back toward our car. We rolled the window down and she yelled in at me "Bye baby! Nana loves you!" and then ran back.

It's good to know we've got a few sets of excellent future grandparents in the making. This baby's gonna have lots of love. :)

Good Ole' Ike

While I was at work this morning *(yes, we had to go in today) all the ladies were walking around asking each person where they were headed tonight to be safe from the storm. Agnes, who is a very funny-outspoken English woman, asked me the question "and where are you going to stay tonight?". I answered honestly, "Billy and I haven't decided, we may just stay home and keep watch on our stuff in case we need to move furniture, etc". She wasn't satisfied and spatted out at me, "You're pregnant and you need to be with your mutha!"

Hope you all are safe during the storm, and able to find something to smile about.

13 Weeks

Well I can't believe it, we're nearly a third of they way there! It has flown but taken forever all at the same time. Thank you to all who have sent prayers and encouragement during this wonderful and new adventure! and thank you for checking up on me too! I'm feeling much better these last 2 weeks...much more energy and much less nausea (thank goodness!). I am actually able to cook pretty normally, and have a pretty good appetite too. The heartburn has actually let up a lot more lately, and so I'm not having to eat as many tums and crackers to combat the acid :) As far as clothing...my old jeans are still "rigged" with a rubber band, and I'm wearing some maternity pants/capris for the comfort. I don't like having things too tight -it makes my stomach feel sick inside. My husband has been WONDERFUL helping around the house, and just plain wonderful at understanding me during all this new stuff!

We went in for another more specific ultrasound and all the usual bloodwork and examinations on Monday.

We had a fun time with the tech during the ultrasound. The baby was bouncing around, sucking it's thumb, kicking it's legs and just pretty much entertaining all of us. I had to tell Billy to laugh for me at how cute it was being because every time I laughed, the baby would bounce and we couldn't get a clear picture. :) The tech said "your baby is a poser! most babies are like 'no don't take pictures of me' and yours is like 'hey!'" Billy said "he gets that from his mom". Okay, so I like taking pictures, so what :)

Here's a few pictures for your enjoyment.

I've got a JAG!

Okay, okay, so I don't have a Jaguar to drive exactly :) But I've got a new cousin Jag and he is soooooo cute! I can't wait to hold his little self! My awesome cousin Danyne (the one I traveled alot with) runs the orphanage in Jinja, Uganda close to where Brian and Lin are living right now. She couldn't make our wedding because she was in the last trimester right before she had Jagpal, my new little second cousin. I tbink I get to finally meet him in November for Aaron's wedding (hopefully)! It's been several years since I hugged Danyne and her now husband Surj and daughters Danynee and Diana! When they were getting ready to board their plane back to Africa, I started to cry and little Diana (I think she was 3 then) pulled my chin up, looked me in the eyes and said in her perfect little African-English voice, "when you wake up, you will be happy". How very inituative for a toddler.I will be happy when I wake up and they are here again! I can't wait to see my family and hug them all! They have been missed!!!

Here's...Johnny!

Okay so we have clue yet if this is a little Johnny or Janie but either way, Billy coined the term for the "B" Baby when we found out it was the size of an appleseed (about 3 weeks ago).

We had an interesting time at the doctor :) It wasn't too bad though (thanks for all the warnings girls). We found out my uterus is tilted back, which they claim is pretty common and will work it's way back forward again during the next few months, and based on the ultrasound we could have a due date of March 4th (we estimated the 5th so we were pretty close).

Other than that, all is well! 2 arm buds, 2 leg buds and a beating heart! 188 bpm! It sounded like a rap song :) Billy had fun carrying the picture around and showing all the nurses. When the dr. came in she said "so your chart says you are catholic and were practicing natural family planning?" I said "nope, we're not catholic and weren't planning anything" :)

It was fun!

Tumm ta tum tumm

TUMS!!!

Are my new best friend :) I feel like the abominable snow man meeting Daffy Duck for the first time- "I Will Name Him George, and I Will Hug Him, and Pet Him, and Squeeze Him."....
Tums a.ka. "George" are my lifesavers-I carry them with me to work, I carry them to the kitchen table, I carry them to my bed, I carry them to the car....I carry them with me wherever I go! Oh and those flavors. I can't get enough of the red ones-they're like candy! Okay, so I'm not that bad, but they have given me a better day overall lately. I was fighting puking the whole drive home wednesday, and it was due to the acid reflux that had been choking me all day. Needless to say, my husband was my hero as he scavenged to find the Tums. Yeehaw.

Other than that, I've been sleeping like a baby-lol-or not so much like a baby as a baby DOESN'T SLEEP! I've wanted nothing more than a drooling nap/crash as soon as I walk in the door. My poor husband has been making himself dinner or taking me out for nearly every night for the past 2 weeks. He's a great sport, bringing me toast or saltines in the morning (those are life savers too!) and a swig of caffeine free coke to ease the acidic stomach pains.

I've been feeling nauseaus off and on, but for the most part, it's been controllable. I chew gum and try to always snack or drink something at all times. Coke and sprite and some fruit teas have helped quite a bit.

As far as food aversions, I think mine are attributed more to the actual preparation of food, not to the food itself.

For instance: I bought an array of groceries to make some really tasty chimichangas and chalupas with rice and beans. Okay, so that entire day at work I kept gagging every time I thought about that RAW BLOODY FAJITA MEAT in my fridge!! I called Billy and told him if he wanted the meat on his, he would have to make it before I got home and then air out the house. Then...I told him I COULD NOT deep fry the burritos, I just couldn't even think about hot oil! Which then put a kink in my plans for homemade refried beans. I asked Billy "can't I just take the pinto beans and use those instead?" he said "but that wouldn't be refried"....so I told him "I can't even think about popping hot oil all over me! Oh and that ungodly smell! Bleh, baby, I can't talk about this I'm gonna throw up". So he asked "what about lard? can you use lard instead of oil?" I go "hmmm, I think I can handle lard. Yeah lard may be okay, it doesn't make me gag".

We went out for dinner :)

So sleepy, nauseaus, and heartburn! Those are my themes for the past 8 weeks! Oh and OBLIVIOUS! I've lost my head for real! I can't remember names, or vocabulary words to save my life. This baby's taking all my smarts for sure. But's it's all good! Maybe he/she will be a genius and pay for our retirement someday!

We get to go see the doctor for the first time Monday! They will do a sonogram so we'll try to get that up here asap!

Thank you all for your love and help during this fun new season in our life. I guess you really do have no idea what's it's like until you've gone through it.

A Cousin is Born!

We spent our 3 month Anniversary in San Antonio visiting our cousins Melissa and Michael and their new beautiful baby boy Jeremiah! It was great to have a part in such a special time of their life. He was so much fun, and it's amazing how much he changed in just a few days of being there! We're so happy for them, and now Jeremiah will have a close cousin to play with forever!

Mama or Auntie? Take your pick

I FORGOT TO MENTION THIS BEFORE: THE MORNING I TOOK THE 1ST TEST, I LAID IT UP ON THE BATHROOM COUNTER AND PROCEEDED TO GET READY FOR WORK. WHILE BRUSHING MY TEETH, I CALLED OUT TO BILLY "I'M NOT GONNA' LOOK AT THIS UNTIL YOU DO" SO HE ROLLED OUT OF BED, RUBBED HIS EYES AND SLOWLY MADE IT IN TO THE BATHROOM. ALL OF A SUDDEN, HE YELLED OUT "WHOA!!" AND I ASKED, "WHAT??!" AND HE GOES "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!"

THEN HE POINTED TO THE TEST BELOW :) SO FUN.

So we've officially hit our 3 month mark in marriage, and we've made some BIG CHANGES!

We've been holding off on posting anything until we knew for sure...but after a few VERY positive pregnancy tests, and some other key symptoms, the word is finally out! Looks like we gave ourselves a 2 month anniversary present! We're looking at a due date around March 5th.

This was me at 4 weeks, when we found out :)
For the most part NOBODY IS SURPRISED!Those who know us well, know we desire a large family and thank God for giving us this little blessing already!

MORE BIG CHANGES: Brian and Lin called us from Africa yesterday and they are only 13 days behind us! My poor mom said she deserves a medal for this year! She gained 1 son, 2 daughters, and 2 grandbabies!

We extended our lease on our townhome so Billy won't have to move with a 7 month prego wife, and I think we've decided to set up a nursery in our bedroom's alcove. Billy's officing out of the 2nd bedroom and it's housing a queen size guest bed. Not much room for baby furniture.

I've been trying to read up as much as I have time for, you know the

"What to expect" books, and the "Your pregnancy week by week" books....and Billy seems to be as thrilled as I am about looking at strollers, and playyards and gadgets for the new "B" fam member :) <<------- Speaking of Billy, he's been doing some reading too!

I asked my 5 year old cousin David what we should name the baby....and he said "If it's a girl, you could call her 'Precious', and if it's a boy... 'Matthew's' a good name" :)

The Year of Weddings

CONGRATS!!!!
...to my big bro Brian and his new wife Lindsey! We celebrated their wedding day on Memorial Day, and then they were whisked off to Jinja, Uganda (Africa)! They are there to minister to the locals, the missionaries, and the 60 orphans or so in our cousin Danyne and her husband Surj's babies home, Amani Baby Cottage. Brian is also helping run a guesthouse kitchen, and Lin opened a new hair salon! and in other news.....

MORE CONGRATS!!!
...my little bro Aaron has officially invited his girlfriend Rachel to be in the family! He planned a really fun and surprising proposal during this photoshoot below. She had no clue! We are thrilled and look forward to their November wedding.



It's a blessing that these new sisters already felt like family to us! We love them both and look forward to sharing many family/life celebrations with them in the future. Good job bro's...good job. May God be glorified for the many blessings He has given us all!

It's so amazing we all 3 share the same year for our weddings! We joked about it the other day that we'll all have the same anniversary landmarks (all 15th, 16th the same year, etc) and Billy remarked "Yeah our 50th will be a huge blowout!". Then we all realized Brian would be 80 years old!!! So he retracted his former statement and said, "Okay, so our 25th will be a huge blowout".

Mummified

Muchas gracias to Brian (Billy's bro) & Winnie for the new mummy bags! :) We love them!

Now we can officially go camping! and It's a good thing we're not claustrophobic!!! LOL

(okay, so we are both TOTALLY claustrophobic but we won't care when we're freezing out in the wilderness!)

Travel Bugs

For those who read the title above and thought, "travel what?" a Travel Bug is an item attached to a dog tag...usually found in a caching box on a hidden trail in the brush somewhere with a bar code of some kind including special information to determine it's prime target location or destination. :)

To put it to you simply, it's called Geo Caching...and it's quite addicting.

Last month, Billy and I flew out to California for a wonderful post-wedding reception his parents threw for us. While we were there, we had a few days of free time in which we were told we would be "Geo Caching". I was confused a bit, as I had never heard of the term, but once given the explanation, I recalled a certain episode in Amazing Race where the teams in competition had to do this sort of "high tech treasure hunt". Geo Cachers take their hand-held gps devices, plug in certain coordinates to a "treasure box" and then drive to their "treasure hunt". The caches can be found by simply clicking on http://www.geocaching.com/ and entering your zip code, or city...we found that there are THOUSANDS of these little hidden containers all over our city! All you need is a handheld gps unit and you're good to go!

So we made a decision. We are going to try making this a regular hobby (and a new fitness regime). It's so fun to meet the challenge of finding the hidden cache, plus it can really be great excercise! You can decide how rough the terrain, or how difficult the hunt. Here are a few simple suggestions: #1 Wear clothes/shoes you don't mind getting dirty. #2 Take a pen, because if you find the cache, you should write your name and the date you found it on the log book. #3 If you take an item from the box, you should leave an item as well. For instance, in the Cali cache, we took a Travel Bug toy monster truck with a dog tag asking us to take it closer to a "Monster Truck Rally" and we left in return, a bottle of bubbles from our wedding (to sort of celebrate the purpose of our trip) :)

Today, we Geo Cached on a hiking trail nearby, and it took us a while to find the box, as it was hidden under several large pieces of bark. We left the monster truck there (our city is well known for their rally's), and took a new travel bug for Unite for Diabetes (not all caches have travel bugs, so you have to search them out online as each cache should tell it's contents).

We haven't decided where we might leave the new "find" but I'm sure the next hunt will be just as fun and maybe even more challenging!

Beware if you try it for yourself. You just might get hooked like we are.

2 Months already?!

I can't believe we've now been happily (for real) married people for approximately 68 (or 69) days! It's stinkin' FLYING BY! Before you know it, we'll be lugging around a half-dozen babies in an Excursion (or Billy say's a Suburban...cause Excursions are Fords :)) or something....hehe. That'll be fun :)

We have realized something important in this past month: we don't really NEED t.v... see, we haven't paid for the service yet, and honestly, I'm not sure we've missed it. Now, some of you may remind me that after babies, t.v. will be a necessity (baby einstein, sesame street, caillou....or you name it)...or then again, maybe not.

However you choose to look at it, it seems, and I honestly feel, like we have had more quality time than a lot of couples spend together. When I get home, we usually crank up the musica, and either dance in the kitchen (okay, so we just TRY to dance, lol) or laugh at funny stories from the day, or cook together, or clean.....whatever it is, we're not usually glued to a t.v. unable to function without eating on the couch with a t.v. tray of food straddling our laps.

Maybe that will change, but for now, I'm content with our t.v.-lessness :) In other news, we chose to "escape" this past weekend...and our destination of choice was none other than.....DRUMROLL.......


.....Galveston :)

I know, I know, "so what?" right?
Well it was just the relaxing weekend we were desperate for. We needed to just unwind from the tensions at work, and bombarded calendar of events...and just "be" together. We also wanted to be in a place out of reach, where we could make ourselves available to hear from God concerning some major decisions for our family. It was wonderful.

We enjoyed a lovely dinner at Fisherman's Warf where they harbor a real-life pirate's dream of a boat, Elissa. We also spent over 6 hours in Moody Gardens, visiting every single exhibit and nearly every attraction. Mario's filled our stomachs with some very tasty pizza....and on the last day we walked the beach, picking up sea shells and chasing down ice cream trucks for some tasty treats...and then we ended up at a hole in the wall mexican restaurant, Gorditas which ended up being delish! The trip was closed off with a casual stroll down the strand where I introduced Billy to the "real" Dr.Pepper's in glass bottles with PURE CANE sugar, not HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP!

It was a nice gettaway, and just what we needed!

Other than that-we are doing GREAT! We have had several friends see the townhome, and I'm sorry for not posting pictures yet! So if you're in town, just come by and see us, you're all welcome at our place!

PICS FROM A FUN DAY AT KEMAH WITH

MOM, THE BRO & HIS LADY :)

Happy 1 Month!!!

I can't believe a WHOLE MONTH (and 10 days) ago I was blessed to become the new and improved "Mrs "Billy" :)

In honor of this great event the hubby and I went out for a celebratory dinner. When the ladies at work found out we were actually "going out" for this huge milestone, lol, they all teased and questioned whether we would "do this every month"....to which one co-worker excitedly responded for me "she hopes so!".

My mother recently asked if marriage was different than I expected it to be. I thought for a while, and answered truthfully that it was actually better than I thought it would be (and I had pretty high expectations). As my friend Lauren explained it, it's like "having a slumber party with my best friend every night". I know it's God's perfect will for me to be married to Billy, and he brightens my every day!

In this whole uncharted territory called "marriage"

I have a learned a few meaningful things.

For example:

*Don't cry over spilled peppercorns

*It's nice to take time to stop and kiss my husband when I/he get(s) home.

*It's great to laugh not just with but AT each other!

*We make a great team, even if it's in the grocery store, lol

*I can be a very SELFISH person...and it's NOT all about me anymore!

*Boys can be fun to live with :)

*Being right and "winning" will only make him a loser

*Having a devotional and prayer life together keeps every day more "God centered"

*I can't always do/make things "perfect" and he still loves me

*I CAN always try though :)

*When I'm stressed from a hard day, it REALLY works to laugh together! That whole "medicine" thing about laughter is sooooo true!

*When I've thought I can't laugh anymore...I keep laughing!

*It's good to take care of others together...two really are better than one

*It's even better for people to sense God's peace in our home, because that means we are at peace and we really are "as one"

*Marriage means a little more sleep at night

*Our marriage has become our #1 ministry....and that doesn't make it any less effective than a formal ministry

*People really are watching

*and finally....this past month has showed me that marriage to the right man has been TOTALLY WORTH THE WAIT!

Being "creative"

Last night was hilarious. While Billy and my bro Aaron went out to the gun range, I decided to get “creative” for dinner.

I made homemade Italian sausage meatballs and bowtie pasta with a roasted garlic tomatoe sauce…then I ventured out with the baking mix to bake garlic/cheese biscuits (made it up) which turned out pretty good. Fresh spring-mix salad with fresh ranch, and sweet tea of course. My final adventure was an alfredo sauce from scratch, which I’ve done before and it get’s even better over time…BUT as I was cracking pepper into it, the grinder BROKE! Black peppercorns went EVERYWHERE! Our whole white kitchen floor was covered with little black beads, and they were allllll over the stovetop and every single countertop! So I calmly strained the peppercorns out of the alfredo saucepan, and decided instead of crying, I would just leave the kitchen alone, set the table, light some candles, turn up the music and turn OFF the lights!

I had the table totally set~I used our new black and red placemats and napkins, and we each had our pasta bowls, salads, alfredo sauces to dip in, bread and tea. Off to the side was olive oil, red pepper, and balsamic vinegar….and then on the other side was our huge pasta bowl with the pasta and it looked great in there! I lit the new silver taper candles and it felt so fancy!

When Billy got home, he walked in the door, and looked a little confused, but was so impressed J. He came around and pulled my chair out for me like we were in a restaurant, and didn’t question as to why the lights were out. Lol. After he prayed over the meal, he said he needed to wash his hands from shooting guns at the range, so I told him to “go to the bathroom and wash them”….

After a delicious dinner, I said “now, here’s the REAL reason we had candlelight!”…and turned the kitchen light on. He started laughing out loud! Then he looked at me and goes “nope, we’re not touching it tonight”, and turned the lights back off and started Monsters, Inc. for us to watch together.

I love my life.

This is the (Married) Life

So, I rolled over yesterday morning and whispered to my husband a "happy two week anniversary" :) We are having SO MUCH FUN being married!

It's amazing to look back and see God's hand on us the entire week before our wedding...even up to the day-of the wedding I was (surprisingly) relaxed and enjoyed as much of the day as I could possibly take in. I heard so many people come through our receiving line afterward, tell me that they had us in their prayers that week. How cool is that? I was blown away at the support and love we felt from everyone present and also those who gave their wishes from afar. It was a day to remember!!!

After being overwhelmed and blessed that our wedding day came together as smoothly and peacefully as it did, and we were swept off to stay at the Iberostar Grand in the Riviera Maya and treated like royalty! What a beautiful breathtaking place! We had a butler, 24 hour room service and enough tasty food and fresh squeezed juices to keep us smiling for a long time :) They would turn our sheets down every night before we returned from dinner, and draw our baths (sometimes making funny animals on the bed with handtowels like you see on the cruise commercials), or cover the tub with rose petals...it was always a fun suprise!

There was a ceramic scented oil warmer they would light for us every night, and we LOVED the way it smelled our room up! So we ventured out to find one for a keepsake, and the stores on the resort kept telling us they were out at the moment but may get more in soon (to sale). Alberto, our butler informed us on our last day that they had been saying that for months! So he encouraged us to take the one in our room! He said he would take care of it, and put another one in somehow. So we have it! We bought the oils from their store, and it reminds us of Mexico every time we light the candle!

When we came home, we got right to work on our new townhome, and it's really starting to look like people live in it :) We are saving up for a bed of our own, but for now, we're using the one I had before and it will eventually be our guest bed (especially when we have out of town family stay), and we brought my dining table and hopechest over. We also invested in a leather sectional with ottoman, and last night, my handy man of a husband put together our bar stools. We are sooooo enjoying being together and not having to say goodbye anymore-only goodnight!

I hope you are all doing great, and you should give me an update if I haven't talked to you in a while. The past 13 weeks went by so quickly and I know I missed out on some of your life-happenings! Thank you all for your love and kind words and encouragement in the midst of planning such a major event-I really appreciate your friendship!

Much love to you all,

MRS.B!

Tres Dias Mas

Can you blogger people believe I'm getting married in 3 days!!! This past 11 weeks has FLOWN by like you wouldn't believe(well, if you've planned a wedding you would believe)
Updates for you guys and gals:

Billy's stuff is here finally! The truck took 2 weeks to make it over from California, but it's here, and in our townhome garage...

Our new couch is here! We got DUMPED :) It's a taupe futura leather sectional with chaise and ottoman. We LOVE it! So you all have to come over and have a look-see.

Our townhome now houses my wood/wrought iron table I dragged to my moms house when I moved back from Dallas, as well as my hope chest. Poor moms living room looks empty but it's a good excuse to go shopping!

I am slowly (with the incredible help from my friends) but surely moving my stuff over...and you can actually see the carpet in my bedroom at mom's house now. LOL it's been months since I could say that!

and a HUMONGOUS thank you goes out to my wonderful bridesmaids! Because of their awesome willingness to give a workin' girl a hand, this wedding is just about planned and ready to go (all we have left are the programs).

Whew!

Much love to you all, and hope to see you in 3 days when I am officially donned MRS B!!!!!

Our Registry

The wedding plans are coming along! It has been some very productive last 8 weeks! I can't believe I change my name in 26 Days!!! WOOHOOO!

Oh, and I've had a lot of questions about this, so for those who are wondering...we are registered at Macy's, Bed Bath and Beyond and R.E.I. (Billy thought I needed some camping gear too :)

Wedding Site

Hey there fellow bloggers...I made some more updates a few posts down...and Billy also updated our wedding website, so if you're interested...check it out at the knot.com! I don't want to post it up here, with all the crazies on the web these days.. :)



Ciao!

Happy "Valentimes" Day

MORE UPDATES AND NEWS IN THE POST BELOW

NEWS!! We just received a call saying we were approved for the ceremony/reception site we've been hoping for!!! Now we will be able to relax and enjoy this Valentines Day with that out of the way...

T-minus 10 and counting....no...make that 6!

March 3rd UPDATES are in PINK
Feb 20th UPDATES are in BLUE!!
Feb 7th-UPDATES are in RED! Things are just falling into place!! We have felt the peace of God as we plan our wedding, and I'm thankful for all the help we're getting from everyone around us! I can't believe this is countdown WEEK #10

Here's what we've got so far.....
A date: April 12th
A time: 2:00pm Okay this might be earlier now- closer to 11:30 or so... Nope, we're stickin' to our original plan with 2:00pm, so start booking your flights/road trips now!!
A place: Well, we thought we did...keep this in our prayers, as our search continues. Praise God we were able to get ahold of 2 potential locations today!!! We've been calling everywhere for days. It appears that our day is AVAILABLE for our favorite choice! WOOHOO. They just had a wedding that was planned for that day move to the night before! It's kind of funny, but I had actually sent a request for application there a few months before we were even engaged yet (I guess when you know you just know right?! lol). Turns out, they never received it. So today, we should get a final answer back. Thank you Jesus! We are ALMOST COMPLETELY settled now, with our favorite location. There had been some setbacks, but we're feeling more and more comfortable that everything's working out. We paid the deposit today, and we're good to go :)
A minister We actually have 2!
A dress: YAYYYYYYY
A veil: YAYYYY again!
A cake: We're pretty sure, just gotta taste it :) We tasted- we picked- we are happy! and now we've got a grooms cake in the works too ;)
Flowers: Thank God for friends who buy wholesale
Music: I think we've just got one more song to pick...
Decorations: Yeehaw for a fiance' who loves to build things, and good friends in this business ;)
Our colors LOL.I thought I had the colors, but this bridesmaid dress thing has caused a lot of color confusion. When we find the dresses for the girls, our colors will be FINAL. :) We're going with teal green and Ocean blue! Or better yet, Steel Blue in Aqua if we're able to order them.
A ring bearer My favorite little pirate ;)
Some flower girls Two of them to be exact!
My Bridesmaids Nine of those
His Groomsmen Nine of those too
The invitations are picked, and almost printed... Just waiting on a final word on location. They are designed and on the printing presses today!
We have some fantastic photography options We're going with Clark Lara! He's so talented! Already, we are so pleased with our engagment session...can't wait to see what's in store with the Bridals.
We're praying for our videographer friends to be available! We're going with some good friends in the business.
And Billy's on the ball with our honeymoon plans! Yippiee....it will be a great surprise! It's paid for, but still a surprise for me!

...and plenty of other surprises to come!


So I think we're doing pretty good! This is fun! I am thankful for God's peace that gives us the faith to believe that He will work out the crazy details.
And now, when we get back from our honeymoon we've got a TOWNHOME to live in!!!! We were approved yesterday for a beautiful and roomy townhome and couldn't be more thrilled about our place! I can't believe WE have a PLACE?!!
The registries are pretty much done....thank goodness for the internet! We did SOME scanning in store, but with our crazy full time lives, and living in two states, it was much better to go look in store and then add items online.

Hello Fiance'!!!

Once upon a time....
There was a girl named Jamie and a boy named Billy.

Now Billy lived far far away, and didn't have a plane ticket to visit until Valentines Day. But on a Thursday evening, January 24th Jamie walked in to her room to find an array of brand new dresses hanging all over the doorways! She didn't know what they could be for, and asked Billy (on the phone) "What is this?? Did you do this??" (assuming they must be dresses sent from California for her to try on for Valentines Day) The answer came from a voice on her stairway, "You mean the dresses?". It was Billy!! He had made a completely surprise visit to see her!

The dresses were picked out by Billy along with the help of Jamie's mom and future sis in law Lin (who painstakingly tried each one on for her).

She was to pick one dress because Billy had made dinner reservations that night! He let her believe he just decided to come because of cheap flights....but there was much more in store for her that night!

As they walked out of the house together, Billy in his new brown leather sports coat and slacks, and Jamie in her new hand-picked dress, a Lincoln Navigator Limo out front to pick them up!

The limo arrived in the Landry's parking lot (and she knew Billy doesn't love seafood so they must not be eating there!) and they took a stroll along the waterway, much like they had done many times before during Billy visits It was cold, and a little rainy, and Billy knew he had to get them back inside the car. He looked her in the eyes and asked "Do you remember what we were doing the last time we came to this waterway?" "We were dancing", she replied. "Yes, and it's TOO COLD to dance tonight", he said, "but I have another surprise for you!"

"I SOLD THE TRUCK!!!"
(Some may not realize how HUGE this news was... it was the truck that God had asked them to sell before they had the "green light" to move forward into marriage. It had been on the California market for an ENTIRE YEAR but sold on THE DAY Jamie's old house was sold....which meant they could be married, AND they now had a wedding fund!). There were tears and laughter and unbelief all at the same time (from Jamie especially). He went to his knees and as he held up a light blue faberge egg with a white gold and diamond ring he said "Jamie will you be my wife?!" "Yes , of course!!", she said. She bent down, wrapped her arms around his neck and cried. "Don't you want to put the ring on?" he asked...as she had completely overlooked it earlier in her shock.

It looked incredible~ It was everything and more that she could imagine for a ring. He picked it all by himself, and it was beautiful!! The faberge egg looked like something royalty would have....AND it was her favorite color too!

(notice the red nose from the cold AND from crying) Then......after they came in from the cold, the limo driver took them to Kirby's Steakhouse, where a private booth with curtains and a table covered with rose petals awaited them. It was PERFECT. The server snapped some photo's (many with Billy's eyes shut of course, lol) and other great moments of laughter and pure joy!

Almost as soon as they were seated, a live jazz band began to play their "songs", and Jamie asked if this was part of the incredible night's plans?? "No, but that would have been AWESOME" Billy said.

The food was wonderful, and they brought out a triple chocolate cake in the couple's honor.... it tasted like chocolate covered cordial cherries!

As the band played "Home" (Michael Buble), and "Take Me Home Country Road" (John Denver)....they remembered all the moments of "homesick" feelings the past 9 months has brought in their times apart from each other. For now and forever, together is HOME.

And from now on, they will live

~~ Happily ~~ Ever ~~ After ~~