Happy Birthday Mimi!!!

She's adorable!!!  She's also the sweetest most kind little lady that you will ever meet in your life!  We are so blessed to have her in our lives and love her so very much!!!  Happy Birthday Mimi!!!

Happy 88th Birthday Mimi!!!  She's probably going to give me a little spanking for posting her age.  But...man...that's something to be proud of!  Mimi was born in 1923 and has lived through so many things that have affected the way we live our lives.  It's amazing to think about how much of history she's been apart of.  What's even more amazing is that she looks and acts like she's in her 60's!  She is a major fashionista and still wears little kitten heel shoes.  I am proud to say that I take after her...completely!  Everyone loves this little lady so much.  She is a joy to be around and would give you the world if she could.  There is never a time when she doesn't put someone else before herself.  She is always thinking of things to do for other people.  Mimi will send "just because" cards and pick-up little knick knacks from various places that remind her of you.  It's always fun to get little cards or care packages from her in the mail.  You just never know what's going to be in them!

Mimi is also a very well traveled lady.  I mentioned in another post that she joined a travel club soon after my grandad passed away in 1989.  She has been all over the United States.  Some places she's even been multiple times!  In fact, I think she's been to New York three or four times...I'm so jealous!  I would love to take a girl's trip with her sometime to New York.  She could be our little tour guide!  I remember right after 9-11 happened, their travel club was taking a trip to New York that October.  They were supposed to eat in one of the restaurants in one of the Twin Towers.  So, she saw ground zero right after it happened.  It's a little eerie to think about.  Anyways, she loves to travel and collect dolls and antiques.  She's got some pretty cool stuff that she's accumulated over the years.  When I was little, I would go down to Hamilton to spend a week with her during the summer.  One day during the week we would go to a little town called Evant.  She had a little booth set up in an antique shop with things that she had bought and one day out of every week, she would work at the little shop.  It was fun to go with her and look at all the knick knacks and antiques in the store.  I also remember that there was a grocery store across the street from the little antique shop.  Mimi would always let me walk over there and get little goodies to snack on throughout the day.  I would always get Mrs. Baird's cherry fried pies...they were (and I'm sure still are) so yummy!  Those were Mimi's favorite too...which is why I'm sure I liked them so much!

One of Mimi's most favorite things to collect are dolls.  She has tons of them!  When she was a little girl, she started her doll collection.  Because she grew up during the great depression, they didn't have a whole lot of money.  So, they mainly played with paper dolls that they cut out of magazines.  I remember her telling me that their neighbors would give her their old magazines so that she could cut out the women on the pages.  Then, she would cut out clothes from other advertisements so that they ladies would have a change of clothes.  It's amazing to think of how easily accessible things like that are now.  We can just hop in our cars and drive down to the nearest store, grab the paper doll book off the shelf, and be back home within minutes.  We take so much for granted.  So, her love of dolls started when she was just a little girl and she has loved them ever since.  Mimi even has a doll room that is built into her garage.  My grandad built it himself and when my mom was a little girl, she helped him get it all set-up for her.  She goes in there and will just look at all the dolls and knick knacks she had in there.  There are small glass figurines, pin cushion dolls, barbies, and lots and lots of dolls!  She also has several dolls and the other little things displayed throughout her house.  They are in her china cabinet in the kitchen, the living room, and the two guest bedrooms.  Some are also displayed on top of her chest of drawers that are in all the bedrooms.  In fact, she started to "over collect" and has been trying to get rid of the ones that she just didn't have room for anymore and were stored in the garage or up in the attic.  But she's kept the ones that are her favorites or have some sentimental value.  The dolls look so pretty all displayed throughout her house and she gets to enjoy looking at them every single day!

Well, her birthday was getting closer and closer this year and we really hadn't talked about what we were going to do.  We knew we wanted to do something special for her, but we just didn't know what.  Mom has been talking about trying to get more involved again with the Madame Alexander stuff because Mimi just enjoys it and loves it so much.  Plus, it's a way for us to take her to things that she enjoys and get to spend even more time with her.  So, we started doing some research and mom found where they were having a luncheon on October 22nd.  It was perfect and the timing couldn't have been better!  Mimi's birthday is on October 19th, so the luncheon fell just a few days after her birthday.  Mom and I talked about taking her to the luncheon, which was in Weatherford, and having that be her birthday present from our family.  So, that's just what we did!

Because the luncheon was in October, it was a Halloween themed little party.  There were about 60 other ladies, and a few men, that were there.  Mimi drove into Abilene on Friday afternoon and stayed through Sunday.  The luncheon was on Saturday, so we woke up early and got on the road around 8:30.  The boys were at the deer lease...which is their second home these days!  So, it was just us girls!  We got to Weatherford about 11:00 and the sales room opened up around 11:30.  The luncheon was held at the Chandor Gardens, which is absolutely beautiful.  Since we got there a little early we just walked around for a bit and then sat down close to a fountain and just enjoyed the beautiful scenery.  Oh...and we took some pictures!  When it was time to go in, we registered, found a place to sit, and then the luncheon began.  Mom had called the hostess and asked if there would be any way that she could announce that it was Mimi's birthday and have everyone that was there sing to her.  The hostess was so precious and sweet and was more than happy to do that for her.  She also let us tell her a few things about Mimi so that everyone else would know just how precious she is and how much everyone just adores her.  So, right after we got our food, the hostess got up and mad the special announcement.  We all sang happy birthday to Mimi, and she just loved it!  It really was a good time, and it was priceless to see the joy and happiness that it brought to my sweet Mimi.  She is just such a special lady and so it's an honor when we can give back to her and do something that she just loves and enjoys so much!  We love you so much Mimi...you truly are a precious gift from God!!!

Me and my sweet Mimi!  Celebrating her birthday with a beautiful cake at our house on Friday night!

This was a picture at the Chandor Gardens before the luncheon got started

She's just so cute...and so fashionable!!!

My beautiful momma and her beautiful momma...so sweet!

Me and mom at the Chandor Gardens...I love her so much!

This was our table hostess at the luncheon.  Her name is Mary Berry and she is actually from Abilene...small world!  Mimi wanted to take a picture with her because she thought she was dressed so cute!

Celebrating Mimi's birthday at the doll friendship luncheon!  There are three generations in this picture...pretty neat and very special!

I got this picture of Mimi while everyone was singing happy birthday to her!  She was very surprised but loved it so much...look at that smile on her face!

ACU Homecoming

Yay for homecoming!!!  ACU's homecoming was last weekend and the entire weekend was filled with lots of fun festivities!  I didn't go to any of them but the parade this year...but I had a blast going to that and seeing some friends from college.  I was in a sorority called Ko Jo Kai, also known as the Kojies, when I was at ACU.  Every year all the sororities and fraternities get together the morning of homecoming and have their annual club breakfasts.  Me and another group of girls usually go, but we just decided not to this year.  Most of my girlfriends have new babies and it was just going to be too hard to try and get their precious babies up and ready to go so early in the morning.  Plus, it makes for a long day for them.  After breakfasts, the homecoming parade takes place.  Then, the football game starts at 2:00.  But, we did go to the homecoming parade and cheer on our little NuNu's!!!  NuNu's are Kojie pledges...and they did so good this year!  Every club's pledges make a float for the parade and they are judged by judges every year.  The winner's are announced during half-time at the football game.  The year I was pledging...we WON!  Go NuNu's/Kojies...YAY!!!

Since we didn't go to breakfast this year, we were definitely there for the parade!  I went with Abbie and her sweet mom, who I met for the first time.  Now I know why Abbie is such a sweetheart...she has had a wonderful example from her precious momma!  They are such a sweet family!  I also took Faith...DUH!  I know that this completely shocks all of you!  I was going to try and take Trigger too...but I thought that might be too hard.  The band plays, there are horses, and just all the extra people and added noise...I just saw a circus in my future if I tried to take both of them.  Maybe next year Cody can come too and we can each have one of them to keep track of.  We would try to take Sarge...but he isn't much for loud noises.  It scares him...bless his heart!  But, Faith had a lot of fun and everyone thought she was so sweet and pretty.  In fact, when the baseball team walked by, each and everyone of the players came by and pet her.  She wasn't sure what to think about it at first.  All these boys were making a bee line towards her.  But when she realized she was going to get some attention and loving out of it...she let them pet her.  It was pretty cute!  Abbie and I had fun!  We got to catch up for a little bit and talk about all her fun wedding plans.  She and Josh are going to have such a beautiful and fun wedding!  It's going to be at Perini's (YUM!) and they are going to have Callahan Divide play.  There will be so many friends and family there...it will be just one big celebration of their new life together!  God is soo good and I'm so thankful that He has brought these two together!  Homecoming is always a fun time.  It's good to see friends from college and catch up with them on what's been going on in their lives.  I look forward to next year's homecoming!!!

Getting ready to go watch the parade!  Her leash is pink and her harness is green...I totally planned the Kojie color scheme!  But...she has to have a camo collar so her daddy can take her hunting!!!

KO JO KAI!!!

Great job NuNu's!!!  You guys did an aweseome job on the float and sounded great in the parade!  I love my Kojie girls!!!

On our way home from the homecoming parade...we had so much fun!!!

I'm obsessed...so this is just another picture I took of her becuase I thought she was cute!  I think she was looking at some birds that were flying by while we were stopped at a stop sign...she and Trigger love to go and fetch birds! 

Road Trippin'

Guess what?!?!?  My mom, myself, and my precious little Faith took a road trip to see my Mimi a couple of weeks ago!  It was one of the nicest weekends that we've had in a long time.  Not that spending my weekends at home with my honey and my other two babies isn't always wonderful.  But one of the reasons this weekend was so wonderful is because I was able to get ALL of my homework done AND the state of Texas got rain!!!  Yes, that's right...rain!  In fact, Abilene got almost four inches of rain the second weekend of October!  It was glorious!

Anyways, my Mimi has been trying to clean out her garage and her house for about a year now.  She is a big time doll collector.  When my granddad passed away in 1989 (I was four), she kept herself busy by being involved in a travel club, going to estate sales and garage sales, going to doll conventions, and even having a little booth where she sold items in an antique store.  She was a busy little lady!  In fact, she's still involved with the travel club.  She's just gone to most of the places that the travel club is going to these days, so she just doesn't go on as many trips as she used to.  But, over the years the stuff has just accumulated and it's now time to get rid of some things that she no longer needs (and some stuff she hasn't even seen in years).  My mom and I have been going down there ever so often to help her go through things and have garage sales.  Plus, it's fun to go down and visit with her and Faith gets to be the Queen for the weekend!

So, that second weekend in October, mom and I both took off of work on that Friday and headed to Hamilton.  We were on the road by about 9:30, ate lunch at this cute little cafe there and then headed home to get busy!  Well...mom and Mimi were busy.  Faith and I stayed inside and did homework (and maybe watched some TV).  Then we went out and played fetch and then we helped mom and Mimi for a bit until dinner time.  After dinner we watched TV for a little bit and then headed to bed...Saturday was going to be busy because of the garage sale Mimi was having. 

On Saturday, we woke up pretty early got everything ready to have the garage sale and then Faith and I headed to one of the gas stations/restaurants to get everyone coffee.  Faith loves to go on coffee runs!  I've written before and how she loves it when I take her to Starbucks with me!  She's just a tad bit spoiled!  When we got back, I had some homework that I wanted to get started on so that I could make sure and get both of my assignments done that were due the following Monday.  This was also the last full week of my class, the next week all I had to do was my big portfolio project.  So, I knew that if I got these other two big papers done, I would have more time to focus on finishing up my portfolio project.  It was nice to be out of town and doing homework because when I'm at home and doing it, it seems like I always find something else that I should be doing.  Like cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping.  I certainly don't relax much when I'm at home, and when I have other chores to do around the house it makes it hard to sit down and focus on homework.  So, this was an opportunity for me to really get busy with typing these papers!  While the garage sale was going on and I was working on homework, I also had the Red River Rivalry on...Texas vs. OU!  Except...Texas lost...but that's ok because I'm an Aggie fan anyways.  And they won!!!  They beat Tech later that evening...so I was one happy girl!  But, I had the TV turned down super low and actually wound up finishing my papers and some extra stuff that I realized I needed to do for this class.  I even wound up having so much spare time that I got most of my portfolio project finished so all I had to do the following week was tweak it a bit and turn it in!  I made a 98 in the class...so thank goodness for Mimi's house and getting to finish homework.  Woo Hoo!!!  When I took breaks from typing, I would take Faith outside to play and check on mom and Mimi to see how the garage sale was going.  She loves to be out there with all the people that come.  They always think she's so sweet and pretty and she gets lots of extra love from them.  We cleaned up after the garage sale was over and pretty much just crashed on the couch.  They were tired from all the work they did and my brain was mud from all the research and typing!  That's when we watched the Aggies whoop some butt when they played Tech...Gig 'Em!

Heading down the road to Hamilton!  Faith likes to be as close to the front as possible...and sit in really awkward positions!

This was one of the times I took her outside to see what was going on at the garage sale...so cute!

Faith again "helping" at the garage sale!

I love this little girl so much...she is so sweet!  We had another fun trip down to see Mimi...but we were pooped!  We can't wait to go down and visit again.  We love you so much Mimi!!!

Oh...did I mention that I have the BEST husband in the entire world?!?!?  He is so thoughtful and sweet...I really don't know how I got so lucky!  But...this is what I came home to when Faith and I came home from Hamilton.  He surprised me with these beautiful flowers, a card that he had written the sweetest things in, AND he wrote out I love you in chocolate chip teddy grahams (which happen to be my favorite)!  I love you Cody Kelley...thanks for spending the rest of your life with me!

Congratulations Josh and Abbie!!!

Our friends are gettin' hitched!!!  We are so excited, so thrilled, so ecstatic for Josh and Abbie!!!  Can you tell that I'm just a bit excited?!?!?  These two people are some of the best people you will ever meet and they have decided to spend the rest of their lives together.  One of the best parts about the night that they got engaged is that our ENTIRE group of friends got to be a part of the whole thing!!!

Josh had called Cody and I about a week before he proposed and had the whole thing planned out.  What is so crazy, is that I was supposed to call Abbie and see if she wanted to go see this band that was playing at a local spot in Abilene, but she wound up calling me and inviting me to go!  It's so awesome to see God working, even in little situations like this!  Anyways, this band that was playing was one that Josh and Abbie had briefly discussed having play at their wedding.  They had been talking about getting married for awhile, Josh just hadn't proposed yet.  So, they had been doing all the typical things most couples do before they get engaged, like dream about their wedding day and talk about potential possibilities when the actual proposal takes place and the engagement is official.  This is exactly what was happening with this band.  Josh had asked me if I would call Abbie and invite her to go and we could make a girl's night out of it.  Like I said, Abbie wound up calling me to go.  We made plans for that Thursday night, which was October 6th.  But, because I knew that Josh was going to be proposing and he wanted all of our friends there, I suggested that we invite all the other girls to go too!  She was definitley ok with the idea and began texting people right away.  In the meantime, I'm also texting them telling them all about the plans with how Josh is going to propose and how the whole evening is going to go down.  The boys are also making plans for what they are going to do for the evening.  They all came over to our house to hang out for a little bit and then went out to dinner.  After dinner, they went over to Abbie's house and "broke in" so that Josh could put rose petals all over her house.  The girls were planning to just meet up at the place and hang out there for awhile until the band came on at 8:30.  What is so awesome about this whole thing, is that every single person, all husband, all wives were able to go and be there on that special night for Josh and Abbie!

So...here's how it all went down!  Josh came into town on Wednesday night and stayed at our house.  He spent the day on Thursday talking to the DJ that was going to make sure that everything went according to plan and getting everything he needed for that night to make sure everything was perfect!  This is what he had planned: The band that was playing that they were talking about having at their wedding is called Callahan Divide.  They were going to be coming on between 8:30 and 8:45.  The DJ told Josh that they would be on for right at an hour and there would be a short intermission before the next band came on around 10:00.  So, during intermission, Josh was going to have the DJ say something that would get Abbie's attention and then their song would play, which is Gary Allen "Best I Ever Had."  The note that the DJ read said: "The song we're about to play is dedicated to a girl in the crowd tonight from a guy who loves her like crazy!  Abbie Howell...this song is for you!" 

Now for some background information on Josh and Abbie.  They dated for about a year when we were in college.  So, they already knew each other and were like best friends.  But, at the time, they just weren't right for each other.  Like most of us, they had a lot of growing up to do in between the time they were in college to the point they are at right now.  When they started talking about dating again, they knew that if it was meant to be, it would all happen really quickly.  One night, before they decided to get back together, they went to a restaurant to talk and have dinner.  The sat at the bar for a little bit and the bartender started talking to them.  Long story short, he told Abbie that Josh was a really good guy (which is so true) and she needed to hang on to him.  And the guy told Josh that Abbie is a sweetheart and an amazing girl (also very true) and that he needed to never let her go.  All the while he was making a rose out of a napkin.  When he was finished he gave the rose to Abbie and told her to hang on to it.  Josh also told her to hang on to it and make sure that she put it in a spot where it would never be lost.  So, Abbie put it in her glove compartment.  Soon after that they began dating.  Now, here we are in October planning for a proposal!

Back to that evening...  So, after the band played, the DJ was going to play the song and read the note that Josh requested as the second song of intermission.  Pause.  Up until this point, there are six girls (including Abbie) hanging out together enjoying hearing this band play.  What Abbie doesn't know is that all of us girls are anxious, nervous, and so excited because we have a BIG secret.  We knew exactly what was going to happen after the band played and we were dying for the moment to happen.  In fact, several of us were timing bathroom breaks so that we didn't miss anything!  Ok, so the DJ reads the note and Abbie's turning around to us and asking if we are playing some kind of joke on her.  Then, a waitress (that Josh has found and given strict instructions to) brings Abbie the rose that the bartender from the restaurant made several months ago.  Josh had confiscated it from Abbie's car the weekend before!  As soon as Abbie gets the rose, she turns to us and says, "You guys Josh is here."  We're freaking out!  I'm a terrible liar, so I just stare at her with blank stare, like what are you talking about?!?!  And everyone else is like, no Abbie, surely not.  Well...he was definitely there!  Like thirty seconds later Josh comes around the corner with all of our husbands trailing behind him while Josh's older brother is videoing the whole thing!  Josh gets down on one knee and proposes and then takes Abbie out on the dance floor and they dance to their song!  Oh my goodness...how sweet is that?!?!?

We had so much fun and felt so honored to be a part of their big night!  All of our friends are family to us...and our little family just keeps growing!  We stayed and hung out for a couple more hours after Josh and Abbie got engaged.  There was good music playing, lots of dancing, and just celebrating with good friends.  Josh's plans after we left were to take Abbie back to her house so that she could see her house after he had put rose petals everywhere.  He was also going to pray over their future life together.  It's amazing to see God's hand in all of this.  HE is just so good and continues to bless us each and everyday.  We love you guys so, so much!!!  CONGRATULATIONS JOSH AND ABBIE!!!

All the girls before Callahan Divide came out to play...and waiting for Josh to come out and propose!!!

Can you tell that I'm super excited for what's about to happen?!?!?  I'm still trying to keep the secret!

THE PROPOSAL!!!

She said YES!!!

L-O-V-E

So happy...this is one of my faves!!!

First dance as a newly engaged couple to their song!

Sweet couple!  I love the smiles on their faces...pure bliss!!!

I was being a creeper...but I couldn't stop taking pictures of them!

The future MR. and MRS. HARRISON!

Sweet friends!  Cody's just a little excited that the whole night and proposal went according to plan!

Abbie holding the chocolate chip cookie cake (we got a little hungry and tore into it...it was delish!) and Josh holding the sign he made to give the DJ!  We love you both SO much!  We are so blessed to have you in our lives and couldn't be more excited for what God has in store for your future together as husband and wife!

Gavin Reid Turnage!!!

Oh my goodness...my friend's have the cutest babies!!!  Seriously, I could just cuddle with them all day long!  One of the last weekend's in September, Cody and I went down to Lewisville to see our friend's Amie and Ryan.  Amie was my big sis in the sorority we were in at ACU and we have been best friends ever since!  She is precious, sweet, caring, thoughtful, hilarious, a great shopping buddy, an amazing wifey, and now...and amazing MOMMY!!!  Gavin was born on July 12, 2011 and is such a handsome little guy.  I had gone to see Amie back in June before Gavin was born and we have just been so busy since he was born that we hadn't gotten to see them or their new little man yet!  So, in August we began planning on a time to come down and see them.  September was perfect for all of us and so we booked a hotel room for a weekend and then headed down to see them.  We left early on a Saturday morning, got there, checked into our hotel, and then headed over to The Cheesecake Factory in the Southlake Shopping Center to meet them for lunch!  It was so wonderful to see them and eat at such a yummy place for lunch!  I got to hold precious little Gavin for a bit and loved every minute of it!  He is such a good baby...they are so lucky! 

After lunch, it was time for Gavin to take a nap, so Amie and Ryan headed home and Cody and I stayed at the Southlake Shopping Center for about an hour and shopped.  Then, we headed over to Amie and Ryan's to spend a little more time with them before we each had our own date nights!  Amie and I went upstairs and just talked and caught up while Gavin was still napping.  The boys stayed downstairs and watched sports and talked about manly things!  Before we knew it, they were coming upstairs to get us because we each had dinner reservations for that night.  Amie and Ryan were going on their first date as new parents and Cody and I were going on a date because of how busy we've both been lately!  We headed over to Texas 'de Brazil (one of my FAVES!) and had a super yummy and oh-so-filling dinner.  Afterwards, we went to Bass Pro Shop for a little bit, the hotel we stayed at was right behind the store in Grapevine!  That was handy :-)  We walked around and just spent some time together before heading back to the hotel and relaxing...and watching college football of course!  On Sunday, we got up and had breakfast at the hotel and then headed home.  Cody had plans to go out to the deer lease (of course!) before we had life group that night at 6:00.  I stayed home and did some minor chores and loved on our babies while he was gone.  We miss them so much...even if we've only been gone a day or two!

It was SO good to see Amie, Ryan, and Gavin!  I miss them so much...but it is always so good to see them and catch up with them.  I think Amie and I could talk for days and days and never run out of things to say (or laugh at).  And now that they have Gavin, we have even more things to talk about!  It was also good to get some insight from her about having a new baby.  Cody and I are getting closer and closer to having the serious talk about trying to have kids.  We're not quite there yet.  I'll graduate with my Master's in May and I think after that it will be easier for me to wrap my head around the idea of a baby.  I'm just so busy right now with school and he's so busy with work, it's hard to think about a baby coming into the mix!  I know there will always be something, but really, school is so demanding and I'm so close to finishing...we can wait a few more months!  But, Amie is a Speech Pathologist in a school district and so we have similar schedules.  Our personalities are also very similar.  We're both pretty much neat freaks, super organized, and we each have our own things that we consider "me" time that we both still want to keep when babies come around.  She just reinforced that those things are all still possible...but then you have a precious little baby that you get to spend time with!  And that's all that really matters in this life anyways.  Spending time with family and friends and raising our babies in a Christian home so that they grow up to be believers and bring other people to know Christ.  Gavin is adorable and I am so glad that we finally got to meet that precious bundle of joy!!!

Me cuddling with sweet little Gavin!  I seriously couldn't get enough of this little guy!!!

Landscaping 101

Well...this post is slightly overdue!  In fact, I started to write this post back in April and so many other fun things were happening that I put it on the back burner and then realized it's the middle of October and still hadn't gotten to it!  Oops!!!  But...better late than never I suppose!

So, let me tell you all about our fun landscaping project that we conquered back in April.  And of course when I say we, I really mean Cody!  I was good moral support through the process.  But, I didn't lay a finger on any of the digging, planting, etc. that goes into landscaping.  I did, however, put my two sense in on the plants and trees that we planted and how the design of the landscaping would be.  All the credit goes to Cody though!  He did an amazing job with the whole project.  And...what's so awesome about it is that he had never really done any kind of landscaping like this before.  So, I was extremely impressed with how good of a job he did and how he turned our backyard from blah into something that we enjoy looking at!

Our backyard was a blank slate.  There was nothing...and I mean NOTHING out there.  Except of course a few bare patches from where the dogs run and play!  The people that lived in our house before us had two kids and they had one of those ginormous playground/swing sets that every little kid dreams about having!  When they moved, they took it with them and we suddenly realized how bare our backyard was.  This was our third year to live in the house, so you can see how important getting to the backyard was.  Oh...and expensive!  Geez...who ever knew that plants could add up to cost so much!  Anyways, we thought that having a triangle shaped, bare backyard would work to our advantage.  But, what we began to realize is that it made it harder (and more expensive) because we had to start from scratch.  Like I said, neither one of us had ever done any landscaping.  And we certainly weren't going to pay a company to come in and do it for three times the cost of what we could do ourselves.  So, I started "Googling" landscaping ideas and buying magazines trying to find the best plan for our backyard.  We also had to be careful of the plants and trees that we bought because of the dogs.  Obviously we couldn't get anything that would harm them, or even entice them to go over and chew/dig it up.

In March, I found this program online that you could use to design any landscaping project.  It was free for the first three plans and then after that you had to pay.  We had talked about what we wanted to do for so long, that I wound up only using one of those free trial plans.  So, I added the plants, trees, flowerbeds, and two little areas to go on either side of our porch to the plan and showed Cody.  He liked it and so on we went to Lowe's.  We bought two trees, two rose bushes, 25 (yes 25!) shrubs, one giant decorative pot, one little bench for a sitting area, 95 (yes 95!) bags of lava rocks, some paver stones, sand, green edging, black tarp to keep the weeds out (yeah right!),a shovel, and some other tools that I have no idea what they are or if we will ever use again.  Yep...it was a lot of stuff!  We had to put this massive load of stuff onto the back of a trailer and drive about 25 miles an hour home from Lowe's.  Then, the process began.  Cody started working on the very next day by spray painting where the edging would go and then started digging.  After that, he sprayed weed and grass killer so that we wouldn't have any grass or weeds come up through the black tarp.  We were a little ignorant on this part.  Or...maybe we were just dreaming that once we sprayed the area, put the tarp down, and then the lava rocks over that we wouldn't have anything growing up through it all.  Sadly we were mistaken.  It's still a lot of work to de-weed that area!  I did it once...never again!  I'll clean a house, do laundry, and cook all day long, every day before I'll ever pull another weed!  I might not much of a yard work kinda girl.  Hints why I stood out in the middle of the back yard and talked to him or sat on the porch and played fetch with the dogs while he did all the work.  I was moral support...remember?!?!?  Anyways, the landscaping that he did looks amazing and we actually enjoy going out in the backyard and sitting on the porch with the dogs now.  It's also nice that we can open the blinds in our living room and kitchen that look out the the backyard and see pretty plants and trees instead of bare grass and a fence!  Cody did such a good job, I'm a pretty lucky girl to have him as my hubby!!!

BEFORE :-(

The pot in this picture is from Del Rio.  We got two of them and one other smaller one that lays on it's side.  Cody's sister's family lives there so we made a little shopping trip to get these for whenever we finally got around to landscaping the backyard.

All I have to say is yuck!!!  Oh...and we still need to stain the fence...oops!

The other side of the porch and the picture of the little pot that lays on it's side.  We still aren't sure what to do with this or where to put it...but it's cute!

We also bought a chiminea.  We haven't used that either...but we also haven't bought new patio furniture.  So, we don't have anything to sit on to enjoy the chiminea...maybe that will be something we get in the spring!

Plain Jane :-( 

Just another before picture...

You can really tell that the dogs run and play through here!

Some of this is what Cody did for the corners where we put the pots on either side of the porch.  The other part that is dug up was done by...you guessed it..the doggies!

The other side of the porch where we put one of those pots from Del Rio.  I don't think I actually took an after picture of these...but they sure do look good!

Last before picture!

AFTER!!!

This poor little tree in this picture actually died :-(  Trigger got a hold of it right after it was planted and chewed up the bark so bad that it didn't make it.  But...it will be replaced when spring rolls around!

Our little sitting area.  The plan was to use this to play fetch with the dogs.  I think we've used it a few times...but it makes the yard look pretty!

This tree actually looks AWESOME right now!  Both the trees we bought are Japanese Plum trees, they have beautiful purple leaves.  But this one has grown and developed and is full of pretty leaves!

I love this big decorative pot!  It's different and adds character to the backyard.  Most of the plants look really good and have grown a lot.  Some have died because of how hot it was this summer, but we'll replace those along with the one tree that died.  The rose bushes also have bloomed and are amazingly beautiful.  The color of the roses is this beautiful coral color.  Our backyard is so pretty now...and I think the babies like it too!

Cody's NEW Truck

I have to say that I am so proud and so very happy for my sweet husband!  Ever since the hail storm hit Abilene on Easter weekend he has worked, on average, for 80 hours every week.  Not to mention all the phone calls, texts, and emails that he gets after he gets home and on the weekend from his homeowners.  He became part-owner of Clear Fork Roofing in January of 2010, and he takes his job very seriously and treats his homeowners amazingly well.  In fact, he's told me before that he treats all his homeowners the way that he would want his family to be treated.  He's so good at what he does and he goes above and beyond to make sure that every single person he comes into contact with is treated with the up most respect and are completely satisfied with their new roofs.  But, all the driving he does puts a lot of wear and tear on his vehicle.  It's practically his office, so he's in his truck for about 12 hours every day.  The truck that he had before he traded it in for the Ford was only three years old and had over 110,000 miles on it!  Craziness!!!  He had said awhile back (before the hail storm even) that he was probably going to have to get a new truck when January 2012 rolled around.  He was afraid  his Chevy just might start having some transmission problems because of the mileage.  He's always wanted an  F250 Super Duty, but he went back and forth on getting one of those or another Chevy.  His old Chevy had been such a good truck, never given him any problems, and he's always loved Chevy's.  But...his dream truck was the F250 Super Duty.  When truck month was getting closer and closer, we really started talking about what he was going to do.  I wanted him to get his dream truck because of how hard he's been working, and I feel like he deserves it.  Plus, it's his office!  It's also our main travel vehicle...when you haul three dogs with you every where you go you have to have lots of room!  And it will also be our main family vehicle when we start to have kids.  But, he kept going back and forth.  There were pros and cons to both and he really wanted to make the best decision for every aspect.  I got a phone call the Thursday of Labor Day weekend and he said that he was going to drive out to West Texas Ford in Anson and take a look at three different F250's they had in stock.  One was black, one was solid white, and the other one was white with a tan stripe down the side.  He went, test drove all three, and like the way the white with the tan stripe looked and drove the best.  But, the trade-in they wanted to give him for his truck wasn't what he wanted, so he told them he would think about it and they were going to work the numbers again.  About 4:45, I got another call that he was putting just enough gas in his truck to make it down to Anson in the morning to sign the papers and get his new truck!  YAY!!!  I really am so happy for him.  He deserves this so much and has worked so hard to provide for our family.  I really am so incredibly lucky to have him as my best friend and as my husband.  And...he looks really sexy driving this awesome truck!!!  I love you babe!!!